


Forever & Always

by lscar123



Series: Forever & Always [1]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: M/M, Romance, Sex, Violence, post crash & burn, post part & parcel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-13 08:05:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 68,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9114298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lscar123/pseuds/lscar123
Summary: On the eve of their first wedding anniversary, Ty and Zane are joined by all their family and closest friends to celebrate a vowel renewal and to see the wedding they weren't a part of the first time around. What begins as a week long celebration of love, family, and friendships ends in heartbreak as a tragic death takes away someone close to them. In Ty and Zane's world nothing is ever as it seems and as time passes a long buried secret is revealed that effects everyone around them.





	1. Chapter 1

  
Beginning 

Chapter 1

Sunlight filtered in through the window of the Baltimore row house that Zane Garrett had shared with Ty Grady for quite a few years now. Sleeping with the window open would have been out of the question when they had first moved in together years ago but as their relationship strengthened so did the trust in their shared surroundings. That and the insanely high tech alarm system they just had installed, if anyone had the supremely stupid idea of trying to enter their open window they would be met with the wail of sirens, bells, and whistles so loud they would probably wake up the entire population of the city or at least the entire block. They weren't eager to test it out but it was nice knowing that had it. It was also nice knowing that both of their guns were just an arms length away so they could shoot first and ask questions later when the cacophony began.

Plus, it had been a year without someone trying to kill them. That was always good.

Zane looked over at the man sleeping next to him, thinking he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He thought this every morning when he woke up before Ty, his partner, his husband. It had been almost a year since their quick elopement but he never got over the fact that he woke up every morning with the one person he loved most in this world. Ty. His husband.

Ty had a peaceful look on his face as he slept. A far cry from the man he shared a room with all those years ago in New York City, a man who couldn't quiet his demons enough for a peaceful slumber. He still had his demons, as did Zane, but together they were strong enough to fight them off. Together they kept each other sane, a compass and an anchor, guiding each other through the darkness.

Zane rose quietly out of the bed and over to the alarm panel on their bedroom wall, punching in the almost needlessly complicated code to deactivate the alarm, he didn't need their morning activities to trigger the alarm and wake the dead. He softly stepped his way over to the bedroom window and shut it, locking it securely as it closed.

He tip toed his way to the bedroom door, opening it to find their two cats sitting at the door. Jiminy and Cricket were obviously angry that they had been locked out of the room all night because of the open window as had been evident by the mowing and throwing of their bodies against the door with more force than a house cat should be able to. Zane snickered to himself, silently thinking that of course any cat trained by Ty Grady would be capable of supernatural strength. 

He looked them dead in the eye and smiled, whispering only a single word:

“Food.”

The cats eyes lit up and their tails wagged aggressively behind them as they followed Zane down the now refurbished stairs of the row house.

The house had seen a lot over the years and they made the decision earlier in the year to completely redo it after it had been broken and bruised by one too many knock down, drag out brawls in the span of a few short month. He still remembered what it looked like when they returned from Miami, broken and shattered, just like their bodies.

  
But that was almost year ago, and with a little help from some of his own money and the care package the CIA had left on their doorstep, they finally had their renovations complete. He glanced around at the entirely redone room in front of him. Completely new floors to replace the scratched, chipped, and blood stained ones that were there before it. New appliances, counter tops, and cabinets in the kitchen. The new kitchen was Zane's second favorite room in their home, after their bedroom, the sleek new appliances beckoning to him to cook for his husband at every chance he could get.

He looked above him at the new lighting fixtures around the home and then glanced to the living room. The only thing that remained constant was the couch. That damn couch that had so many fond memories of. Nights spent cradling each other watching tv, or Zane reading a book while Ty silently held him in his arms and watched him devour the words with a fury. The first time Zane had ever tasted another mans release in his mouth was on that god damn couch, they couldn't get rid of it! Zane remembered protesting with that very fact to Ty when they were shopping in the furniture store and it took every ounce of self control they had not to tackle each other and fuck their brains out on one of the sample beds in the store.

Zane was torn from this memory, and the growing bulge in his pajama pants, by a sharp pain on his ear. Jiminy had jumped onto the counter and onto Zanes shoulder, biting his ear as punishment for teasing them with food and not delivering. Cricket sat on the floor watching and Zane could have sworn he saw a smile in that cats eyes. He gave their cats the food and watched them for a moment before breaking out into a whispering rendition of We Are Siamese, mocking his cats in comparison to the evil felines from Lady & The Tramp.

He made it about halfway though the song before turning around and seeing Ty on the landing of stairs. Embarrassment flushed over him in an instant, he could feel his skin growing hot and just knew his face was turning the shade of red that Ty liked to tease him about.

“Don't stop on my account, baby.” he said with a devious glint in his eye before barking a laugh and walking over to the opposite side of the counter from Zane.

Zane shifted his eyes downward, still embarrassed, “How long have you been watching me?” he asked under his breath.

“Long enough to see you get bitten by a cat while you were staring off into space and getting a boner.”

“It wasn't space,” he said with a shy laugh, “it was the couch.”

“I think that thing turns you on more than I fucking do sometimes.” Ty laughed while raising his body onto the counter and crawling a top the island counter top on all fours. Like a cat. “We are Siamese if you pleeeeeeeeaaaaaassssseeeeeee,” Ty purred with his silky smooth singing voice

“We are Siamese if you don't pleeeeeeeaaaaassssssseeeeee,” Zane replied in a decidedly less impressive singing voice while reaching his hand out to touch Ty's face, running his hand under his chin and scratching it, as if he was actually petting a cat.

 “That's it, Garrett,” Ty said with lust in his voice, “you're in for it now.” with the final syllable he launched himself off of the counter on all fours and into Zane. Zane reacted with a quickness that only someone who had spent years with Ty Grady could have, catching him out of the air and wrapping his body in his arms. Ty's back was planted against Zane's chest as he reached his arms back to grab his lovers curly dark hair, now showing even more signs of gray creeping in all over in areas other than the temples.

Zane was ready to go, he had been ready to go ever since he looked at that damn couch. He could feel himself growing harder as Ty's perfect ass wound against his groin. Ty knew exactly what he was doing and Zane loved every second of it. He looked down at Ty's arm as he had his hand pulling at his hair and was entranced by the flexing muscle of his bicep. He had to taste it, to feel his lips on the powerful muscle and taste his skin. He held Ty's hand on top of his head and leaned into his year, “Flex for me, baby.” he moaned.

“That's a new one.” Ty replied and Zane could hear the sly and slightly confused smile in his voice. He didn't care. He wanted to worship every inch of his husband right now. Wanted to feel every muscle on his strong, lean body with his tongue.

“Do it.” Zane ordered. And Ty obliged. Zane ran his tongue over the muscular flesh, biting as he went along. Ty let out a series of moans followed by hisses and hums. Zane flipped him around so they were facing each other. “Le me worship you, baby.” he begged

Ty glanced up at Zane and then down at the cats, “In front of the kids?” he asked with a smile.

Zane didn't wait for another word and picked Ty up by his thighs, wrapping his legs around his waist and carrying him to the couch. Always the damn fucking couch. He made Ty flex both of his biceps for him, Zane taking time and care to lick each one and give it the attention it deserved. He ran his tongue up Ty's neck, to his ear, biting as he slid his hand down Ty's briefs, grabbing at his rock hard cock and already feeling it slick with precum. He ran his fingers over the head of Ty's cock and pulled them back up, raising them to his mouth and slowly licking them, tasting his husband, while Ty watched on in agony.

“You're going to have to do something about that Zan-” Ty was cut off by Zane snaking his fingers into his mouth, slightly gagging him while he ripped the briefs off in one quick motion. Zane removed his hand from Ty's mouth and slide down to his pants, where he reached down to pull out his own cock and started to stroke himself while also taking Ty's entire cock down his throat. Zane had been practicing almost every night for months, he was proud of the fact that he could take his husbands entire cock to the back of his throat without gagging. And from the sounds Ty was making he was proud of it too.

Zane kept going, pushing Ty's cock as deep as it would go into this throat. Ty had tried to grab the back of Zane's head but Zane slapped his hands away and forced him to remain grasping at the couch.

“Bastard,” Ty whispered, “Only you could say you wanted to worship me but then want to be the one in control too.”

Zane was worshiping. On his knees. At the altar of Ty.

 It was a few short seconds before Ty left a scream erupt from deep within it, and only a second more after that until Zane felt pulse after pulse of Ty's cum shooting down his throat. He fucking loved tasting his husband, the initiate act of swallowing had always scared him until Ty, and now that was the only thing he could think of half the time. The other half of the time was spent thinking about Ty's cum inside his ass.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fck, fuuu, fukc,” Ty's words got jumbled as he came down from his orgasmic high. “Stand up, I want to taste you too, baby.”

Zane put one finger to his lips as he bent over and shoved his face into Ty's abs, licking him as his slick hand pumped on his own cock. It only took a moment until Zane was crying out himself, shooting a load all over his hand. His eyes looked up at Ty, the devil burning behind them, as he held up his cum covered hand.

“Lick.”

Ty looked at him for a moment before grabbing the hand in front of him and running his tongue over it, lapping up all the cum like it was water and he was dehydrated.

Zane looked up at Ty, grinning.

“Fuck Garrett,” Ty panted, there was still cum on his lips, “that was new.”

Zane smiled, kissing his husband and tasting himself on his lips. “Trying something new is fun, isn't it.” he asked, almost breathless.

“That was more than fun, baby,” Ty panted, “for a second I thought you were going to slap me with that cum covered hand!”

“You would have fucking loved that and you know it.” Zane teased.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that statement!” Ty relented, throwing up his hands.

Zane pushed his face towards Ty and kissed him on the lips. “Next time,” he whispered “we have to go to work now, those books aren't going to sell themselves.”

He winked before walking off, knowing good and well that Ty sat behind him, still dazed, and watching his ass flex with every step his took up the stairs.

It was Friday, the end of a blissful, and if this was any indication, it was going to be a good weekend too.

 

~*~

 

Ty sat on the couch, still dazed from the mornings events. He was still naked, still sticky, and still out of breath. He sat there for what seemed like forever as Zane got dressed upstairs and grabbed his bag to head down the block to the book store.

 Zane gave Ty a small peck before he walked out the door, laughing at the sight of him still sitting there.

“I hope you actually plan on showing up today, doll.” Zane teased

“I'll be there you dirty little bitch, let me shower and I'll grab the cats and head over.”

Ty saw the annoyance creep into his husbands face and laughed, “Don't give me that look baby, they're the main attraction! Remember that one day they weren't in the shop because of the vet? The people almost had a riot! Our angry, cat loving customers would be more dangerous than the cartel if we pulled that shit again!”

Zane knew he couldn't protest that and Ty knew he had won the battle and the war.

“Get out of here and let me clean up with some dignity before I flick some of this cum on your clean shirt!” Those words were enough the send Zane running for the door with a wave and a promise to see him later.

Ty laughed and watched his retreating figure as the door closed. As soon as the latch hit and the lock caught he scrambled to his feet. This has to be fast, he thought to himself. Can't have him getting suspicious of why I took so long.

He reached for his phone and flicked though his contacts, pulling the one he was looking for: Annie, Zane's sister. He pressed her name on the touch screen and the call began. She picked up after the second ring.

“How's my tiger?” was the first question out of his mouth

“He's good,” she laughed, “I'm actually going over there in a little bit, I can face time you from the cage if you want.”

His heart jumped, “Please! Please! Please!” he cheered like a little kid.

“Z's not around, right?” she asked, in a hushed tone.

“He just left, we're in the clear for a few minutes.” Ty replied, he looked down and realized he was still naked and now had dried cum on his face. All while talking to his sister and law. He panicked for a second and took off for a sprint up the stairs, almost dropping the phone.

“Everything is good on our end, I' talked to your mom yesterday and we finalized all the flight details, I fought her for a good hour to convince her to let me use my airline miles to fly out your entire family, I'd never use them anyway so I'd rather donate them to a good cause but she just kept fighting me, I had to agree to let her bake me any pie I wanted every day she was here...” she continued on and on as Ty smiled. There were so many similarities between the Garrett siblings but god were there so many differences too. Like Annie's tendency to ramble.

 “Yeah, Ma can be like that. She's proud sometimes but this is for us and I don't want them to have to waste money on it. I'd pay for it in a heartbeat but since you offered...” he trailed off “I guess I take more after Chester, that man ain't ever met something free he didn't want.”

“Oh god, I forgot!” she gasped, “I need to call the airline back and see if they'll let him take his shovel as a carry on!”

Ty almost fell over in laughter, “Good luck with that one.”

“Lord knows I'm going to need it.” she sighed, her southern drawl coming out stronger than usual.

“Annie,” he started “I can't thank you enough for this. I couldn't think of a better way for us to spend our one year anniversary with our families and friends but I had no idea how to set it up and frankly it was starting to make me crazy. I'm glad you reached out. You're a life saver.”

“Ty,” she said with a small laugh “You're the life saver. I'll never be able to thank you enough for what you've done for him. You saved my brother. I know he wouldn't be alive now if it wasn't for you. Whether it was the drinking, the drugs, or the jobs, or hell even himself...I know he'd be dead now. You saved my big brother.” he could hear her sniffling on the phone and he knew she could hear the same from him. He was doing a remarkably good job of hiding it but there were tears streaming down his face.

“Wow,” he came back with a laugh “some heavy shit to get into on Monday morning!”

“Sorry!” she gasped

“Don't be...” he hesitated for a moment “love ya!” he rushed the words out of his mouth and hung up the phone before she could reply.

He laughed at how dumb he felt, he'd spent the last two months obsessively planning the event with Annie and the two had grown close. She shared so many stories about the younger Zane that he never got a chance to meet on these secret planning phone calls. He always loved learning more about his husband. He knew that Zane felt like an adoptive member of the Grady family but he didn't know if Zane knew how much Ty felt like an adoptive Garrett. 

He and Beverly had a long conversation a few months ago right around the time the planning stages began. When he first brought the idea of having a vowel renewal anniversary at the ranch with both of their families to Annie they both spent a good week trying to figure out the best way to ask Beverly. Annie opted for the 'im just going to do it and she can go to hell if she doesn't like it' approach. He never expected to receive a call from her, a call he only answered because he recognized the area code, where they had a startlingly serious conversation about what she expects from him as her son's husband...and as a new son of hers. Zane would never believe it when he told him. Ty knew his own mother had a big part to play in the reversal of Beverly's attitude, the time spent on the ranch while they were risking their lives in Miami had somewhat bonded the women and Ty knew as scary as Beverly was, a pissed off and protective Mara Grady was enough to meet her match. Protective of both Ty and Zane. Now if only he could get Beverly to stop calling him Tyler and start calling him Ty. At least she didn't know about Beaumont. 

 

 ~*~

 

Zane unlocked the door to Brick & Mortar and stepped inside. This was always his favorite time of day in the store. When it was quiet. Not filled with people asking questions, asking for the wifi code, people shouting when they found the surprises that Ty had hidden in every corner of the store. No cats.

He flicked the light on and started back towards the employee only section of the store. He paused at the counter to admire the handwritten sign that sat there. The top half of the sign read, in frantic, messy handwriting.

 

If you don't like cats this place isn't for you!

 

His eyes shifted at the second half of the sign, this time written in a different ink and with a slower, gentler, less sloppy hand.

 

(Unless you're allergic in which case we can ship an order. Blame Ty.)

 

He grinned and rolled his eye. Fuck he loved that man. Every inch of his body, every part of his soul.

“Beaumont.” he sighed, his eyes flicking up to make sure he was alone in the store. After the incident a few weeks ago where Ty had somehow made it to the store before him, regardless of the fact that Zane had left a good ten minutes before him, he was always on guard for a surprise startle from Ty. 

He sat his bag behind the desk and walked back towards the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on to brew. He needed some. And he knew Ty would offer it to anyone who walked though the door.

“Better make two instead.”

His head shot up at the ring of a bell at the front door, hearing the door click closed as the ringing stopped.

“Welcome to Brick and Mortar!” he shouted from the back “I'll be with you in just a moment.”

He walked around the corner and didn't see anyone. He looked down the rows of bookshelves and didn't see any movement. His body instantly tensed. It was one thing feeling safe at home but after being blown up and almost killed in this very same building he could never feel too content, CIA outpost or not.

He retreated to the back of the desk and slide his hand under it, pushing back a hidden pannel and reveling a pistol and three extra magazines. He had to make a judgment call. The store was technically open, no one usually came in this time of the morning but it was still open. Risk pulling a gun on a customer and destroying the business or self preservation?

Fuck it, he thought, a normal customer would have replied to him and wouldn't be playing ninja on the store floor. He called out one more time to no answer before sliding the pistol in the back of his jeans and pulling his shirt down to cover it.

He stalked thorough the romance section and heard a few foot falls, tense, he grabbed the gun at his backside and held his hand over it, advancing. He ears caught more footsteps, but they were lighter and sounded further away and seemed to be coming from two different directions.

How many people are there? Two? Three? His mind wondered as he stalked to the next row, adult romance. He looked up and smiled some of the steamy titles that were kept well off the floor so young readers couldn't see them.

He paused, feeling the presence behind him. It was imposing, and closing in quickly. It was now or never. Gun? Knife? Fists? He stood his ground and turned in an aggressive stance that he could also play off as just being startled if it was truly a normal person.

He damn near had a heart attack when he turned and came face to face with the figure behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first attempt in writing in YEARS. I just recently read the entire Cut & Run series in somewhere around 5 days and was heartbroken when there was nothing left to read. Since the chances are slim that we'll ever get a book #10 I decided to just go out on my own! Hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Zane stood face to face with a beast so fearsome it would make half of Sidewinder run for cover. Ok maybe not but it sure as fuck scared the shit out of him.

A soft meow was all he heard before he was bopped on the nose by a cats paw. The small tap was enough to knock him on his ass because of how high strung he was. The attacker jumped out of it's accomplices arms and onto the top of the bookshelf, skittering away to it's friend in the other corner of the store.

The other footsteps he though...the fucking cats. CATS had him this worked up?

He looked up to see a hand reach down for him and his eyes immediately flicked to the tattoo wedding band. He knocked the hand away and shot up off the ground.

“Fucking CHRIST Beaumont!” he shot from his lips, his brain jumbling his thoughts from earlier into actual spoken word.

“Beaumont?” Ty shouted with surprise “What the fuck did I do to earn a BEAUMONT out of you?”

“You scared the fucking shit out of me, Ty! I thought someone was in here trying to kill me! You didn't answer when I called!”

“Call down, I was just trying to have some fun with you!”

“Fun?! I have my fucking gun on me Ty, you scared me to death.”

“Noted. Next time I will announce myself and the children upon entering the store!” Ty replied, mocking him with a salute.

Zane stood for a moment, eyes fixed on Ty. He quickly stuck out his hand and gave Ty a quick flick to his sternum using his knuckles. 

"Good to see you're not loosing that speed in your old age." Zane laughed, rubbing his chest before taking Zane's face in his hands. They pressed their lips together and as they parted the nervous and angry energy was gone.

“Love you, doll.

“Love you more, lone star.”

“Oh?” Zane growled “You willing to test that theory out?”

Ty pushed him back towards the bookshelf as the whole adult romance section began to shake. His hands running up Zanes shirt, feeling his abs and the hair covering his chest, then sliding around to his back, running his fingers over all the scars and finally reaching the gun. He stopped and smiled

“Is that a gun in your pants, Garrett, or are you just happy to see me?”

He bit Ty's lip. “For you baby? Both.”

Their breathes grew labored as they both pawed at each other, desperate but unwilling to rip each others clothes off and fuck right in the middle of the store like they had done a few times before. The door swinging open, ringing the bell along with it, affirmed their caution as the store officially welcomed its first customer of the day.

“WHERE ARE MY KITTTTTTTIIIIEEEEEEESSSSS?” a shrill voice tore through the store in a sing song tone.

Ty's face instantly went to his palms. "She's like clockwork." her rolled his eyes and looked up just in time to see the outline of two cats jumping between the shelves above them, running with fury to meet their visitor. 

“Fucking traitors.” Ty muttered

“I told you that you couldn't trust them.” Zane snickered before sticking his head around the corner.

“Hi Miss Adair, we're back here...stocking the shelves. We'll be up in a minute.”

“Tyler sweetie, are you here?” she called

“Yes ma'am” he called back as seriously as he could force himself to

“Would you be a doll and get me a cup of that coffee I can smell coming from the back? No one around here quite makes it like your special man friend and I just can't start my day without it anymore!”

“Go be a doll, doll.” he laughed towards Ty, gesturing his wrist in a shoo-shoo manner.

“Shut up or I start introducing you as my special man friend to everyone.” he flicked Zane in the forehead and lumbered off to the kitchen to get that coffee.

 

~*~

 

Ty stood in the kitchen of the book store muttering to himself

“Marine, FBI, CIA, and now I'm a fucking barista for a woman who wants to steal my cats?”

“How's it coming back there, Meow Mix?” he heard Zane's voice call from the front of the store with a chuckle

Ty huffed and sulked out of the the kitchen and around the corner, handing the woman her coffee. “Don't call me that, special man friend.” he said with a point of his finger towards Zane.

He mumbled a few pleasantries to the older woman and followed her around the store just to make sure she didn't try to stuff one of his cats under her over-sized coat before leaving. After he was satisfied she wasn't going to kidnap anyone he set out to find Zane, intending to finish what they started a short while ago when he heard the door open once again, bell ringing. It happened over and over again throughout the morning, every time someone would leave Ty would get ready to jump Zane and then the door would open, bell ringing.

 

After the fifth or sixth time Ty gave up. He threw his hands and the air and flung his body onto a bean bag like a defeated child. He looked up to see Zane smiling and as he opened his mouth to speak the door opened once again, bell ringing.

Ty turned over on his side, cradling his face in the bean bag, and screamed. “What is this, Life fucking Serial?” He looked back up at his husband, confused expression on his face, clearly missing the Buffy The Vampire Slayer reference. He kept trying to get Zane to watch it with him on Netflix but the only way he would relent is if Ty also watched an episode of his new favorite obsession, Rosemary & Thyme, and there was no fucking way that was happening. He smiled to himself, fuck is it good to have time to just relax and watch stupid shit on Netflix without worrying about having to save the world every five minutes. But it could also get mind numbing, like it was right now.

As if sensing his thoughts, Zane looked down at him “You're getting twitchy”

“I'm always twitchy, Garrett.”

“Ok,” Zane sighed, “Extra twitchy. Go shoot something.”

“Can I shoot the bell? Please tell me I can shoot the bell.”

“No. We'd be nothing without it.”

Ty sighed yet again

“You can always go home if you're getting restless here, go change, go for a run, maybe go out to the range for target practice?” Zane offered as a suggestion.

“Nah, I'll be restless anywhere. At least here I'm restless with you.” He got up and walked behind the counter, sliding his arms around Zane's waist and kissing the back of his neck.

The door opened once more, bell ringing, and Ty dug his nails so deep into Zane he had to pry him off. “That's going to leave a mark” Zane laughed as he looked up to their next customer.

She stopped, seeing their embrace, and laughed. Ty recognized her as one of the college students that came into the store to steal their free wifi and never buy anything just because they liked the beanbags but he couldn't remember her name. She laughed a bit “I can come back later if you two are busy.”

Zane rolled his eye's, “Don't be silly April, Ty was just telling me how much he wants to rip the bell off from over the door.”

“Don't,” she said glaring at Ty, “it makes the place.”

That's what I said!” Zane shouted, giving her a hi five.

Ty's agitation melted away to infatuation for Zane. He remembered everyone who'd been in the store more than twice. He always scared the shit out of them by remembering their names too. It was endearing. The store was Zane in his element while Ty was just there to be eye candy and do manual labor, not that he minded. Sometimes he got paid under the table with hot sex in the small lost upstairs. 

“Have fun stealin' out wifi kid.” he called to April as he climbed his way up the stairs to the second level of the store.

If she replied Ty couldn't hear it as he worked his way towards the third level of the store. The top floor was only accessible from inside the store by a trap door and ladder system. They set up a bedroom in the open area of the third floor, private and away from prying eyes, in case they had to stay the night because of Company business or just for when they wanted to close the store for lunch and have an hour of hot sex.

The large open room was set up like a studio apartment. It housed a bed, computer, television, and various dressers, some filled with clothes and others filled with guns and knives. A small half bathroom was also a part of the set up. The room sometimes had a claustrophobic feel to it which could be alleviated by opening the windows to let the fresh air in from outside. His favorite part of the room though stood in front of him, the balcony that overlooked the store. It was a small space, only jutting out a few feet over the second floor but it gave you a birds eye view of the entire store. They had set up a set of french doors that opened from their living area to the balcony. The usual glass sheets of windows replaced by a two way mirror allowing them to see outside but preventing anyone else from seeing inside. 

He looked through the door and saw Zane's easel set up on the balcony. He hadn't realized Zane had been making art again. He'd figured he was too busy or didn't have any inspiration. He was wrong. When he opened the door and stood in front of the picture Zane had been working on his jaw dropped.

The sketch, obviously a work in progress, was of Ty. Ty in the bookstore, laying on one of the beanbags with the cats sitting curled up next to him. He was reading a book in one hand and petting Cricket with the other. Ty knew this scene, it happened almost every day. At some point he'd get bored enough to open up a book and read, settling into one of the squishy chairs. He'd noticed that when this happened that Zane would sometimes flip the sign on the door to closed and disappear into the depths of the store. He figured he was downstairs working on paperwork but somehow he'd never noticed Zane above him, sketching away. The picture was beautiful, candid, he didn't want to let Zane know he knew because it would ruin it for him and he knew how much he loved his art. He couldn't finish the piece if Ty knew he was being watched.

He struggled with the decision of telling Zane he saw it and ruining the integrity of the piece or pretending he never did, allowing himself to be viewed from a distance while pretending he didn't know he was being watched. Truth or lie?

“Fuck, I wish I hadn't seen this.”

He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Zane, stepping back inside and closing the mirrored door. He watched as the text sent and Zane read it, laughing.

 

Come upstairs for a minute

 

Customer is in the store, can't.

 

Just leave her, she's trustworthy enough. If she steals shit we know where to find her.

 

Ty.

 

It's not a sex thing. Promise.

 

Damn, I was looking forward to it.

 

He watched him tell April he would be running upstairs for a minute. The girl smiled and Ty could see she was offering to watch the store. Zane tried to decline her offer but she just rolled her eyes and sat at the counter and opened her laptop. Nice kid. Shame we can't hire her cuz of the CIA and all.

 

~*~

 

Zane looked up to the balcony, the door was closed, but he knew Ty was inside. Probably waiting for him naked, the bastard. He left April at the counter after she had insisted multiple times that she could watch the store while he went upstairs. She was a nice kid. It was a shame they couldn't hire her because of the CIA and all.

The little trap door to the room had opened when Zane was about halfway up the ladder. All he could see was Ty's legs. Still in his jeans. Damn.

“I really thought you would be naked.” He laughed

“No such luck, baby.” Ty shot back.

“What did you get me up here for then?”

“I saw your drawing on accident.”

Zane looked out onto the small balcony, he had forgotten to hide the picture. “Dammit!” he sighed, smacking his palm to his forehead. It was supposed to be one of his anniversary presents.“Wait...why are you telling me?”

“I didn't want to lie to you...” Ty offered him sad smile and Zane's heart broke. “It's pretty clear to see that the beauty of it is that I didn't know you were doing it so if I'd pretended I'd never seen it then it would feel...icky."

"Icky." Zane laughed

Zane could feel the familiar sting of tears forming in his eyes. They had come so far from the relationship that called for one of the men spying on the other. He grabbed Ty in his arms and pressed their lips together, sliding his tongue between his husbands. He could feel Ty smile against him.

Ty pushed back against him and pressed him to the other side of the wall. He broke off the kiss, “Hey, why don't be drive to Texas to see your parents next week?”

"Way to kill the moment," Zane coughed, “Drive?!”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Ty, that's like...a 24 hour drive.”

“We could make a thing out of it. Leave tomorrow morning, get there on Monday or something. Our actual anniversary isn't until next Sunday and we'd have plenty of time to make it by then.”

Zane pulled his head back, Ty still had his eye's closed and he was smiling. He opened them and looked right into his. Zane could see that faint hint of green and smiled.

“Plus,” he continued “I really want your dad to see the car. Not just pictures. I want to take him for a spin in it. Let him drive it around if he wants.”.

“You know we have plane tickets right?” Zane laughed

“I'll call em and cancel em! If they don't refund them I'll pay you back in a one kiss to one dollar lost ratio.” Ty promised, leaning in to kiss Zane.

“Whatever you want, baby.” Zane moaned into his lips. Ty could always get away with anything he wanted and Zane didn't see any need to argue. It could be fun. An adventure at least. 

 Zane stood in the silence for a few more seconds, just looking into Ty's eyes and seeing his face reflect back in them. The silence didn't last as it was broken by a loud crash and a blood curdling scream from April down stairs. Ty and Zane's heads turned in unison to look out the door of the balcony, both tensing when they realized what was happening.

“Give me the money bitch!” a burly man in a dark colored mask shouted at April.

“I can't! I don't work here! I don't know where it is!”

The masked man pulled the hammer back on the revolver in front of her face. A few more seconds remained until the bookstore descended into utter chaos. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

It all happened in a split second. He and Zane were upstairs kissing, talking about their plans for a road trip. Then the screaming started. They both saw the masked man at the same time and were on the move. They each ran to the second dresser to the left, pulling open the bottom drawer and grabbing two pistols. God, he thought, we have fucking guns all over every inch of this place.

They looked at each other and wordlessly made a silent plan, something only people who had been forged in the toughest fires together could do. Communicating without words, agreeing to the same actions without making a single sound. The only other people Ty could do this with were Sidewinder. He lingered for a second thinking about how much more precious this connection seemed with Zane. Sidewinder was a unit, they had to grow together, they learned to love each other and communicate wordlessly. But Zane was his partner, on the field and in life. They could make these silent plans about something as simple as grocery shopping or about taking down the fucking asshole who was trying to rob their store.

The plan they settled on was simple: the masked man didn't know they were in the store. The two way window blocked them from his view. They could both easily sneak out the trap door and around either side of the man and take him out. Fast and quick.

Ty opened the trap door and went down first, landing silently on his feet and snaking around the outskirts of the store floor. Zane followed him, placing a hand on his shoulder before trailing off the other way.

Things were escalating fast though. He thought April worked at the store. That she knew where the money was. And now he thought she was lying.

The masked man slammed his hand down on the counter. “Give me. The fucking. MONEY.”

“I don't work here! I can't! I promise! I'm sorry!”

“If you don't work here then who the fuck does? Someone better find a way to give me my money or your brain is going to be on the back of that wall in a minute.”

“ZANE! HELP!” April screamed

Fuck, Ty thought, Great. She gave away half of the advantage. He silently hoped she would keep quiet about him so they could at least have a chance of this ending without any blood on the beanbag chairs.

He knew Zane would have no choice now. He was a good man and wouldn't leave April out there alone. He would expose himself. Ty closed his eyes. He had to move fast now.

 

~*~

 

As soon as Zane heard his name he knew he had to come out. He couldn't leave April out there by herself. He slid the gun in the back of his jeans, just as he had done with the one earlier in the day, and walked out from behind the shelves, hands up. Surrendered.

He knew he could take him down at close range if he was alone. But April was there. He couldn't risk this poor girl getting caught in the crossfire just because she helped them for a second. He had to trust Ty. He did trust Ty. With his life.

“I don't want any problems.” Zane said, hands still raised. “I can come over there and open up the cash drawer for you, just let her go.”

“Fuck that!” he screamed, grabbing April by the hair and pulling her into a headlock. Gun against her temple. She screamed bloody murder.

This just got worse. He could sense Ty moving along the perimeter of the room slowly so he didn't give his position away. He needed to hurry up though, they were running out of time to diffuse this.

“I don't want the drawer! I want the fucking safe!”

Safe? Zane's eyes squinted, they didn't have a safe. He took the cash from the day to the bank every single day after locking up the store. They'd chosen a bank that stays open a few extra hours just because of that. This guy hadn't been watching them or else he'd have know that.

“We don't have a safe.” he said calmly, hands still raised.

“Bullshit!” he screamed, dragging April towards the back of the store and further away from Ty.

Fuck.

He was pushing through the kitchen, seemingly looking for something. A safe. But they didn't have a safe. Zane wondered for a second if maybe there was more to this than meets the eye. Was he just being paranoid?

The man in the mask started spinning in circles now, confused and dazed. Zane figured he was probably on some type of drugs which was what was making him so irrational. He kept spinning with April in his grasp and then she took a chance. She stuck her foot between his, sending them tumbling.

Shit. She's impressive. Must have great parents.

Ty finally had an opening to make his move, he launched himself from a corner of the store, grabbing April and holding her under him. He picked her up in his arms and sort of slid her across the floor to Zane.

Zane picked her up and pulled her out of the store by her wrists. He trusted Ty to take care of this guy without a problem. He had to get April to safety.

He tossed April out of the front door, “Call 911!” he shouted before turning around to run back inside. And that's when he heard it. A gunshot rang out from inside the Brick & Mortar. And for a second Zane was immensely terrified. What if? He thought. All it would take is one wrong move, one twist from a twitchy drug addict. He sprinted back inside, not knowing what he would find.

 

~*~

 

Ty saw his chance and he had to take it. She had tripped the masked man and that was his opening. He ran to April, threw her to Zane, and went for the man. He knew Zane would take care of getting April out and then be back for him. Ty was pretty confident he could take the man on his own. He was a stumbling idiot who probably didn't even know where he was even trying to steal from.

Ty dove in, elbowing the man in his stomach. The layer of fat he had cushioned the blow. Fine, he'd just go for porkys face. He grabbed the man by the face and drove his head into the side of the cabinet hearing a crack. He didn't know if it was the mans face or the wood.

Suddenly, enraged from the attack, the man pushed off with his feet and sent his body flying backwards, landing on top of Ty. Ty let out a sharp breath of air, the masked mans entire body weight falling on top of him like some kind of WWE wrestler. He'd feel that in the morning.

Ty flattened his hand and drove it into the mans side like a knife. He made contact with whatever squishy organ was under there because the man howled in pain and rolled off of him.

Shit. Ty realized he was right next to the gun. So did the masked man because he grabbed and turned to face him. But not before Ty could fire off a round of his own, hitting the man right between his eyes. The masked man fell backwards, his blood starting to leak out onto the floor.

That was going to be fun to clean up.

 

~*~

 

Special Agent In Charge Michelle Clancy was sitting in her car when she heard the call go out over the police radio. She instantly recognized the address. She threw her car into drive and sped off towards the scene. All she had heard on the radio was the place, shots fired, and someone was down. She didn't know what was happening, just that she had to get there to check on her friends.

“What the fuck did you two get into now?” she sighed pulling up to the building and parking none to graciously on the sidewalk.

She ran through the crowd of uniform officers, holding her badge in front of her. All the cops knew that there was no reason for the FBI to be on the scene, especially not the SAIC of the Baltimore field office but god help anyone that got in her way before she made sure everyone was alive and breathing. 

“I swear to god if one of you is dead I'm going to fucking kill you.” she was shouting as she made her way into the building.

 

~*~

 

Zane sat on one of the couches in the back on the store, his arms around Ty, not letting go for anything, while they gave their statements to the police detective.

Zane looked up when he heard the commotion from the front of the store and instantly recognized the shouting voice telling the poor rookie officers to move or she'd have them arrested on federal charges. He looked down at Ty and smiled.

“Mom sure got here fast, huh?” Ty whispered, exhausted and annoyed from all the questioning.

Zane watched as the detective turned to meet the woman who was charging into the room like a bull who had just seen red.

“Excuse me,” he held up his hand “just who do you think you are?”

“Special Agent In Charge with the FBI, now move.” Clancy said, holding up her badge, ready to push the man out of the way if she needed to.

“And just what interest does the FBI have in a simple attempted bookstore robbery?” he asked inquisitively

“The kind of interest where two former agents and one of my best friends were involved in.” she said to the man, softening her stance and attitude. “Sorry, I was in the area getting lunch and I hard the call and panicked.”

“You too?!” Ty excalimed “First Garrett, now you, both worried I couldn't take a fat drug addict? I could take him in my sleep!”

"Nice to see you too, Michelle." Zane laughed and turned to Ty with a shrug “He did try to flatten you with his entire body.”

“How was I supposed to know he was going to pull out the WWE moves on me? I got sloppy...” Ty started to trail off.

“All that matters is that you're fine. You know me, I heard that gunshot and assumed the worse. Anything can go wrong at any time in a situation like this...”

Ty looked up at him, smiling. The smile that warmed Zane's heart every time he saw it. Zane stuck his head down for a longing kiss that didn't break until Clancy coughed.

“Hate to break up the party here boys but what do we know about what happened.”

“It was just a simple robbery gone wrong on the perps part,” Zane started “the guy clearly hadn't been canvasing us because he asked for the safe. We don't have one and if the guy had been watching us for any amount of time he'd know that I take all our daily cash and drop it at the bank when we close, besides what we leave in the register, which isn't much, only around $200.”

Ty laughed. “Guy got shot between the eyes for a couple hundred bucks. How's April?”

The detective looked up as if happy to actually be included in the conversation again “She's going to be fine. A bit shaken but she told me how you two saved her. Great work.”

“Listen officer,” Ty began, “we're heading out of town in a tomorrow for plans we can't break...is this going to hold us up?”

Zane looked down at Ty and could tell he was going to get angry if the answer wasn't what he wanted to hear. He preemptively tightened his grip on his husband.

The detective looked down at his notes, “I don't think so. We should have it wrapped up by this evening. Clean shooting, you we're within you're rights and you even tried to deescalate it without violence so you won't hear any objections from me. We'll be cleaned up and out of your hair in a few hours.”

“Thank you.” Ty said, looking up at Zane “You ready to hit the road?”

Damn. He just remembered he agreed to drive to Texas.

 

~*~

 

Ty pushed the door to the row house open with a groan. Why did shit have to go down today? They were leaving tomorrow for their road trip that ended in the big surprise for Zane and now they were both on edge because of the shooting and attempted robbery. Zane had told him on the way home that the who situation didn't feel right. Ty figured it was just a little paranoia but with their life who the fuck knows.

At least the situation had given them an excuse to close the store for two weeks. Miss Adair was just going to have to get along without her coffee for kitty fix for the time being. The CIA even agreed to give them the time off, barring some major world emergency.

“We gotta leave pretty early.” he huffed while looking at Zane intently

“Jesus, I'm not even packed.”

“Go pack then. All you need is the stetson.”

“No doll, all you need is the stetson.”

Ty laughed and pulled Zane into a hug. He was excited. He fucking loved what Texas did to hus husband. Even if Texas was bound and determined to kill him. It was worth it.

Admit it,” Zane laughed “you're more excited for your tigers.”

“I meeeeeaaaan...” Ty jokingly replied while blowing a gust of air on Zane's nose

“I need to shower.” Zane huffed

“Want company?”

“We both need to pack, if we get started now we'll never get anything else done tonight.”

Shit. He was right.

“You can do me a favor and plug my phone into my computer to get it to update with my iTunes, there's some songs I want to add to it before we leave tomorrow.” Zane said with a smile, heading up the stairs and blowing Ty a kiss.

Jerk.

Ty grabbed the phone and went up stairs to start the connection and then began to pack. He lugged out three suitcases. One for him. One for Zane. One for weapons. It would be easier to transport what they wanted since they weren't flying and no matter where they go they always seem to need a small arsenal so it's good to be proactive.

He packed two suits. His favorite one of Zane's and Zane's favorite one of his.

“God I hope he doesn't notice this missing.” he said to himself under his breath. Zane needed a suit but asking him to pack one for himself would make him start to wonder if there was more to it, even if Ty just told him it for was a fancy restaurant.

He threw in some more casual clothes for both of their suitcases. Some of his favorite shirts and all of Zane's favorite jeans. Underwear, socks, and lots of lube. He grabbed both of their Stetsons from the top shelf of the closet and sat them on top of their closed suitcases and then they were both all packed.

The ding from the computer notifying that the music was done transferring caught his attention and we walked across the room to grab the phone. He clicked though Zane's iTunes library, bored and curious, arranging them from most played to least played and almost fell out of his chair at what he found. Zane's most played artist was Shania Twain. Ty knew he was from Texas and that he liked men but this was almost too much. He started howling with laughter until he was caught by Zane.

“And what exactly is so funny?”Zane asked standing there in nothing but a white towel, water still dripping down his body.

Ty was too far gone into hysterics to even notice the sight in front of him and just stammered out two words.

“Shania...Twain.”

He recovered himself.

“Shania Twain is your most played artist on iTunes?”

“Yes. Your point is?”

“I'm just surprised. I've literally never heard you listen to anything by her before!”

“I'm glad I can still surprise you, I listen to a lot of things you don't know about when I have my headphones. Mostly because I knew this would be your reaction.”

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” Ty held up his hands as Zane took the towel off of his waist and threw it at him.

“You're gonna pay for those sneaky eyes.” Zane glared down at him with a devious smile.

“I can't wait.”

 

~*~

 

Zane sat in the passengers seat of the Mustang gazing at Ty. He was so beautiful, one hand on the wheel, the other next to the window and propping his head up, aviators on, looking intently at the road.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” Zane asked

“I don't think so.” Ty joked, looking over to him with a devastatingly handsome smile

“I'll try to tell you more often then.” Zane said, scooting a little closer to him and putting his hand on his thigh.

They'd been driving for about seven hours. They'd woken up early that morning and left Baltimore around 5 am. Each of them glad that the round of marathon sex they had earlier in the evening was enough to knock them out for the rest of the night.

Zane was getting hungry for lunch and he knew the two cats in the back probably had to use the bathroom too. In this moment he was glad that they had taken the cats on that road trip with Sidewinder earlier in the year, at least he knew they traveled well.

“We should pull over at the next exit to get something to eat, I'm starving and I know the kids probably have to go to the bathroom” Ty said, almost reading Zanes mind.

“I saw a sign about a mile back that said the next exit was coming up, I think they had a logo for a Waffle House.” Zane laughed

“No. No Waffle House.”

“What? Why?”

“Dude, you ever been into a Waffle House? Nothing good ever happens in a Waffle House.” Ty said, half jokingly, half serious.

“Don't shoot the messenger!” Zane sighed, “I'm sure we can find something else. There's the turn off right there.”

 

~*~

 

Ty turned back onto the highway after their food and bathroom break.

“Did you see that back there?” he asked Zane with a wicked smile.

“Yes.” Zane relented

“And what was it?”

“Cop cars.”

“And where were they?”

“Outside of Waffle House.”

Ty looked over to him and tapped him on the nose with his index finger, an unspoken 'told you so'

He looked back over at Zane who was pulling the book he'd been reading back out of the glove box. He didn't know how Zane could read in a moving vehicle, it always made him carsick.

“Mind if I put on the Pandora? Or will it break your concentration on the book.” Ty asked

“Nah, it's fine baby, I can read anywhere.”

Ty looked at the completely empty highway ahead of him and then glanced back down at the phone. “You made a road trip radio station? That's cute.” he smiled and pressed play as On The Road Again began to filter out of the car speakers.

Ty looked back over at Zane, intently reading his latest book obsession, a mystery novel. He didn't know what Zane always read them, he was smart enough to figure out the ending before he even got halfway though the book most of the time but it was still a sight to see. Zane in his glasses, tongue between his lips like he always unconsciously did when he was reading, the lines on his face forming in his concentration.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” Ty asked

“Just about every day.”

Ty rolled his eyes and the next song started out of the radio. He heard Zane bark a laugh next to him.

“Reading something funny there, Garrett?” he asked

“It's not the book.”

“What is it then?”

“You'll find out.”

Ty turned his head away from Zane, confused, as the song continued to play and the words began. He didn't remember ever hearing the song before.

 

Can't seem to get my mind off of you  
Back here at home there's nothin' to do  
Now that I'm away  
I wish I'd stayed  
Tomorrow's a day of mine  
That you won't be in

 

Ty looked back over at Zane who had now closed his book and replaced it in the glove box and was just looking at Ty.

 

When you looked at me  
I should've run  
But I thought it was just for fun  
I see I was wrong  
And I'm not so strong  
I should've known all along  
That time would tell

 

“Aw,” Ty muttered “That's sweet. Is this song how you feel about me?” he ribbed Zane with his elbow 

Zane laughed again, “Just wait for it.”

 

A week without you  
Thought I'd forget  
Two weeks without you and I  
Still haven't gotten over you yet  
  


He looked back over at Zane who was now mouthing the lyrics and tapping along to the song on the dashboard.

“This song must be before my time, huh grandpa?” And then it happened.

 

Vacation  
All I ever wanted  
Vacation  
Had to get away  
Vacation  
Meant to be spent alone

 

 

 

Zane began to scream with laughter.

“What the FUCK, Zane? You seriously let this song play knowing what it was? You're fucking evil man.” Ty was frantic

Zane was doubled over in laughter at this point. “I...can't...breathe...” he was gasping for air at this point.

“Good. Don't count on me for mouth to mouth!” he yelled while grabbing for the phone to change the song.

“You've used all your skips for the hour” the phone read

“What the fuck?” Ty was frantic at this point. “Zane make it stop!”

Zane reached for the phone to pause the music.

“That was evil and you know it.” Ty sighed

“I'm sorry!” Zane held his hands up. “Once it started and I saw you didn't know the song it was too perfect.”

Ty began to reply but was cut off by a loud pop outside of the car, jerking the wheel as the car began to swerve. He slammed on the breaks and pulled the car over on the side of the road. He and Zane got out of the car to check what had happened.

“Flat tire.” Zane said

“You and your fucking song did this!” Ty yelled

Zane collapsed on the side of the road, gasping for air once again.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

 

Zane surveyed the damage to the tire. It was completely shredded. They must have ran over a nail or some type of metal something because Ty just put brand new tires on a few weeks ago. Something Ty had been reminding him of since they got the flat.

“You do have a spare, right?” Zane asked tentative

“Of course I have a spare, Garrett, who do you think I am? Doesn't mean I want to deal with changing a tire right now in this freaking heat.” Ty replied with a huff

They were about ten hours into their twenty four hour long road trip to Texas. About an hour outside Nashville.

“Listen doll, why don't we get this fixed and then drive on to Nashville and stay for the night? That would put us at about the halfway point.” Zane offered

Ty sprung his body up from the asphalt and trudged to the trunk of the car “That's fine, I was getting in the mood to stop anyway, and I know the kids are getting restless in the back seat.”

Zane helped Ty remove all their luggage from the trunk to get to the spare tire. Both being extra careful with the suitcase that was filled to the brim with fire arms and spare ammo.

By the time Ty got the ruined tire off of the car he was was dripping with sweat, his plain white shirt soaked though with moisture. Zane watched as he pulled it over his head, almost in slow motion. Zane admired his husbands body in the harsh sunlight. His eyes tracing over his muscles, his many scars, and landing on his tattoo. Fuck he's beautiful.

Zane walked over and wrapped his hands around Ty's waist. “I could fuck you right here on the side of the road.” he whispered into his ear

“I knew the slow motion shirt pull off would get you.” Ty said with an evil grin

“That was on purpose?” Zane gasped

“Of course, gotta get you all worked up and then not help you out as punishment for that song.” Ty said, turning to Zane and biting his lip before pulling the extra tire out of the boot.

His husband was evil and he loved it. He watched him work on the tire, muscles flexing as he hoisted the new tire into place, sweat still dripping off of his nose onto the asphalt below. Zane looked down and noticed the growing bulge in his jeans. This was sadistic.

He looked to the horizon and saw a car, probably a few miles behind them, traveling towards them on the same flat road which put a damper on the whole 'pull my cock out and Ty wont be able to resist me' plan. Damn.

The black SUV that was behind them sped past their position just as Ty finished installing the new tire.

“We need to get another replacement when we're in Nashville, just in case, we still have another whole day of driving left.” Ty huffed as he threw the old tire back in the boot and replaced their luggage.

Zane grabbed the keys from him. “I'll drive the rest of the way to Nashville. You rest.”

 

~*~

 

Ty watched Zane as he pulled into the Hilton Downtown Nashville, the hotel they made reservations for on the road. He hopped out of the car as soon as Zane hit the breaks and slid over the hood, almost knocking over the valet, just to get to the driver side door in time to open it for Zane.

He could tell from Zane's face that the gesture surprised him. From time to time Ty liked to surprise him like this, if only just to see that smile. He held his hand out for him to exit the vehicle and they walked hand in hand to the front desk.

“Reservations for Grady-Garrett.” Ty spoke first, smiling. He noticed Zane's eyebrow raise out of the corner of his eye when he gave the girl at the desk the name.

“Not a problem, if I could just see your ID and the credit card you want to put the room under I'll get y'all checked in real quick.” the girl behind the desk replied.

Ty handed her his ID and credit card and the girl frowned.

“This ID only says Grady on it.” she said puzzled

“I'm the Grady,” Ty said, pointing to himself, “This one here is the Garrett.” he pointed to Zane.

“Oh!” she laughed “Y'all must not travel a lot, you only need one last name on the reservation, I can see there was also an issue with the booking, I have a room with two beds available for you instead of this one king.”

Ty could feel Zane tense up, he knew that the stupid small minded people bothered Zane more than it did him.

“The one king bed will be just fine.” Ty tried to give her a lighthearted smile.

The girl was still confused. “It doesn't have a pull out couch.”

"The professionalism..." Zane mumbled under his breath. 

Ty could sense Zane's growing frustration and began to speak until he felt Zane's hands on his face. Before he knew it he was being pulled into a kiss by Zane.

“The one king will be fine.” Zane said after breaking the kiss.

Ty looked back at the poor girl who looked like she was about to faint. He didn't get any malice from her, she was just an ignorant girl from the south who wasn't used to two men being together.

“I...uh...yes...uh.” the girl was flustered and he saw and older woman appear from the back office.

“Courtney, you can take your break sweetie.” the older woman cooed.

The girl walked away, still in shock as if her dog had just been hit by a car in front of her.

“I'm so sorry, gentlemen,” the manager said “She just moved here from a small town, she's not used to real life yet. She had the same look when I introduced her to my wife last week.”

“It's OK.” Zane laughed.

Crisis averted.

“Y'all have a good night, let me know if you need anything.”

Zane kissed Ty again and they walked hand in hand to the elevator with their bags trailing behind them.

 

~*~

 

Zane flopped down on the bed, the king sized one, in their hotel room. He looked up at Ty.

“Why did you put it under Grady-Garrett?” They'd joked around before about combining names in some way but neither of them could settle one way or another, plus it was too much paperwork.

“Honestly? I was just bored and wanted to watch the world burn.” Ty laughed

“And you say I'm evil.”

Zane grabbed him by the waist and pulled him on top of him body. He ran his hands up Ty's back, feeling the flexing muscles. Once they reached the back of his head he brought Ty's face down to his, placing a kiss on his lips and sliding his tongue into Ty's mouth.

He could feel Ty grinding his hips into his groin below him. Both of their breathing grew more intense. Zane pulled Ty's shirt over his head and pushed him back to admire his body.

He ran his hands up the front of Ty's body, from his abs to his chest, and took a hold of the light chest hair he'd grown out, pulling him back down to his lips.

“Baby...” Ty moaned as Zane released the hold on his chest and slid his hands down the back of his jeans, under his briefs, searching out his ass. Ty let out another gasp as Zane's fingers found his hole and began teasing it. Circling it.

Zane pulled his hands out of Ty's pants and brought them back to his face, sliding a few of them in his mouth.

“Get them nice and wet for me, baby.” was all Zane commanded

Ty complied, sucking on Zane's fingers, swirling his tongue around them in his mouth. Zane removed them from Ty's mouth and Ty spit on them for good measure after reaching down to undo the button on his jeans.

Zane snaked his hands back around Ty's body, returning to his ass, teasing some more before he slid a finger inside him.

“Fuck...” Ty murmured

Zane picked up the pace, moving his finger in and out faster and faster, loosening him up before adding another one inside him.

“Ty..” Zane moaned

Ty reached back down and pulled his cock out of the opening of his briefs, already leaking precum all over Zane's abs. He was jerking himself at the same rhythm Zane was moving his fingers in and out of him and it felt heavenly.

“Fuck me, baby.” Ty begged.

Zane was all too willing to comply. He flipped Ty over on his back and ran for the luggage to get one of the many bottles of lube they packed. He was stripping his clothes off as the phone rang, Zane recognized it as the dedicated ringtone for Ty's mom, Mara.

“Dammit, Ma!” Ty yelled as he rolled off the bed to find his phone in a pile of clothes

Zane flopped himself back down on the bed, watching Ty rummage thought his clothes trying to get to the phone.

“Great timing, Ma!” Ty laughed as Zane reclined back on the bed, pulling the covers over him and Jiminy hopped up onto the bed next to him.

“Trips going fine, we're alive, we stopped for the rest of the day, Nashville.” Ty's voice kept going in and out as he walked all over the large hotel room

“Yeah, love you too!” Ty said again, looking across the room and catching Zanes eyes as he hung up the phone.

“How's everything?” Zane asked

“Good, told her we were traveling, just wanted to make sure we weren't dead on the side of the road somewhere.”

“That's nice. You didn't tell her I said hi.”

“You didn't say hi!”

“Touche.”

Ty crawled back up the bed to Zane's lap and kissed him on the nose.

“Now, where were we?”

 

~*~

 

Ty woke before Zane the next morning. They had planned on going out in the evening and exploring the city but the majority of their time was taken up by room service and sex. Wow that was a lot of sex.

He looked over at his sleeping husband and smiled before being pounced on by a cat.

“Jesus Jiminy!” he said somewhere between a whisper and a yell “You almost scared me to death.”

The sound was enough to stir Zane awake.

“Good morning to you too.” Zane mumbled

“Morning sunshine!” Ty laughed, kissing him on the cheek. “Ready to start the day?”

They were both out of bed and dressed within five minutes. A few minutes after that they were out of the door with their luggage and cats and waiting on the car to be pulled around for them.

Ty was driving again, he always loved driving, especially this car.

“No more surprise songs.” he said before remembering “Shit! We forgot to get a tire!”

“Relax,” Zane laughed, “I called down to that manager we talked to after you fell asleep and she had one of their maintenance men go out and get us a tire from a 24/7 place, then billed it to our room and I gave him a good tip. The new one is in the back.”

“Damn, that's some service!” Ty laughed

“She was nice. She said 'people like us have to stick together'” Zane said imitating her accent. “I'm gonna send a gift when we get back home.”

Ten hours later they were getting close to the Carter Garrett Ranch. They were both irritable at this point, two long days in the car would do that to anyone.

Ty's phone rang again. This time Zane looked down and saw it.

“Annie?” Zane asked. “Why would Annie call you and not me?”

Shit shit shit. They thought. Don't screw this up now, we're so close!

“Maybe she meant to call you but called me instead?” Ty offered

Zane grumbled and answered Ty's phone.

“Annie,” he started, “Why are you calling Ty and not me?”

Ty couldn't hear her reply. C'mon Annie, think quick.

“Oh, that makes sense I guess. Hold on, I'll give him the phone.” Zane said, handing the phone to Ty.

“Hi Annie?” Ty asked

“I told him we were surprising dad with the car and that I was calling you to tell you he was still up.” she laughed

“Oh, he is. Damn, do you think he'll be in bed by the time we get there? We're about an hour out.” he caught on quickly.

“That's why I was calling you. Your parents plane got delayed and our driver just got them a little bit ago, they're like...right behind you. Your mom just called me and said they can literally see you guys in front of them.”

“Shit!” Ty spat

Zane looked over at him, raising his eyebrow.

“I really wanted to surprise your dad with the car.”

“Pull over or something, let your parents go by and kill an hour. You're coming up on the start of our property, just pull off and do...something.” she laughed

Was sex all that the Garrett children thought about? It was a good plan though.

“Ok Annie, see you in a bit.”

Ty turned to face Zane. “We have to pull over. Your dad is still up and I want him to see this for the first time in the daylight. Annie said we're coming up on the start of your property so shouldn't get into any trouble waiting around for an hour or two.”

“An hour or two? Baby, I'm exhausted. I just want to go crawl into bed.” Zane huffed.

“I know, I am too, but the first time he sees the car can't be in the dark!.” Ty put on his puppy dog eyes, feeling only just a little bit terrible.

“Fine. What do you propose we do for the next hour or two?” Zane asked.

Ty pulled the car over to the side of the road, putting it in park and turning to Zane.

“I want to fuck you under the stars.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5

 

 

Zane slowly reclined on the checkered blanket, basking in the glow of the stars and the glow of his husband standing above him. Ty had the blanket ready to to go rather quickly, something that made Zane think that this wasn't quite as spur of the moment as he was letting on.

Ty looked down at Zane, beautifully lit by the moonlight, he thought it at least five times every day but it never ceased to amaze him. Fuck he is beautiful.

Ty knelt to the ground in front of Zane, slowly unbuttoning his checkered shirt watching as Zane did the same. Each of them slowly revealing their bodies to each other. It was dead silent. Only the sound of their own breathing and the blowing wind across the flat land.

They both sat motionless as a dark black car drove past their position. They were far enough away from the road that they wouldn't be seen unless someone was really looking for them.

As the tail lights of the car disappeared behind them Zane reached up, cupping Ty's face in his hand, feeling the prickles of the whiskers he had grown over the last two days of not shaving, it sent a shiver through his entire body.

He reached towards Zane and began to unbutton the few buttons left on his shirt before pulling it off. He threw the shirt to the side as he leaned down to place a tender kiss on his lips. As their lips broke he pushed Zane further back on the ground, biting at his collar bone as he went. He placed small kisses all the way down his body until he reached the waistband of his jeans, undoing the buttons and pulling them from his body.

The sight of Zane below him, in nothing but his briefs, illuminated by the moonlight drove him wild. He stood up for a moment to rip his clothes off as well, matching Zane.

Zane slid his hand down his body and inside the briefs, grabbing his hard cock that was already beginning to leak out in excitement. He knew it drove Ty crazy to watch him pleasure himself and he couldn't think of a better time than now.

He placed his foot in the middle of Ty's chest and gave him a small push, sending him back towards the grass and landing on his elbows.

"What the hell?" Ty laughed with a mixture of confusion and excitement

"Watch me." Zane drawled, his accent already coming out thicker from the few hours they'd spent in his home state.

"Fuck." Ty bit his lip and smiled, laying down on his side, his head propped up on one hand, the other reaching down to touch himself as well.

Zane gave Ty a long stare, bringing his hand up to his tongue, licking it to get it wet enough to slide over his cock with ease. This caused yet another string of expletives to slip from Ty's lips.

Ty watched as Zane grasped his cock in his hand, slowly beginning to move his fist up and down over the length of it. He slid his index finger of the tip of his solid cock, collecting a small bit of precum on it, beckoning Ty to come towards him with a finger wag.

Ty agreed, crawling towards him on all fours as Zane slid the finger in his mouth, letting his husband taste him, before pushing him back once again and continuing the blissful torture.

Ty was free of his own boxer briefs now, his hand moving slowly and methodically on his cock.

"Tell me what you want to do to me." Zane rasped

"It would be faster to tell you what I don't want to do to you" Ty's breath hitched as he continued jerking himself off

"Tell me, doll."

"I've always been more of a show than tell"

Ty threw himself towards Zane, pinning him down by his shoulders, growling like a wild animal. Biting at every inch of exposed skin her could and dragging his nails down Zane's body and over his impressive abs to grasp his cock.

"Fuck Ty, I love when you do this to me"

"And you know just how to get me there you sneaky bastard"

Ty pushed Zane's legs apart with his knees and grabbed the bottle of lube they'd laid next to them on the blanket. Thank god they were always prepared to be deviants.

Ty placed some lube on his cock, Zane's, and his own fingers before beginning to tease his husbands ass.

He slid one finger inside him, with a welcoming gasp coming from Zane. He slowly circled and crooked his finger, moving it just right. He knew how to maximize pleasure and preparation with him after all these years.

When Ty slid another finger inside of him it was enough to make Zane go wild. He writhed beneath his lover, fists clutching at the blanket and pulling out the grass on the earth below. It felt like every point on his body was an exposed nerve being touched with the most pleasure possible.

"Please baby," he rasped "please fuck me Ty."

Silently and without warning Ty was on top of him and sliding his cock inside , earning an ear piercing shout from Zane

"Fuck..." Zane whimpered unable to continue his sentence as Ty pulled himself out completely and slammed back inside once more

Zane was overcome with lust, biting, clawing, screaming at every move Ty made inside him. It reminded him of the early days of their relationship, messy, brutal, and oh so much pleasure.

Ty was above Zane, panting, sweat dripping from his nose down to Zane's chest. Zane always felt so fucking good wrapped around his cock. He pulled out and shoved back in once again, this time staying there.

Zane let out another fierce cry as he begged Ty for more.

Ty leaned back on his legs, pulling Zane with him and sitting him in his lap. All of Zane's 6'5 body wrapped around him, cradled in a hug as he lifted his frame on and off of Ty's cock, growing more and more frantic with each movement

"I'm so close, baby" Ty managed to struggle out through the moans

Those four words lit a fire inside Zane. He placed his hands on Ty's chest and pushed him back towards the ground leaving Ty's writing body underneath him as Zane rode him under the stars, frantically bouncing up and down while clutching at Ty's chest.

"Fuck...fuck...FUCK" Ty screamed as he felt himself explode inside Zane

The heat of Ty inside him was enough to drive Zane over the edge without even having to touch himself. He screamed into the night air as he came all over Ty's body and they collapsed into one exhausted, sticky, mess, holding each other in their arms.

Ty stayed there beneath Zane for a moment, both of their hearts beating in sync, looking up at the stars in the dark sky.

"The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas," Ty began to sing softly into Zane's ear

Zane responded with a laugh, "I'm never going to hear that song the same way now." And places a kiss on Ty's lips. "Let's get cleaned up and on the way before a rogue cow comes along."

 

~*~

 

Ty pulled the car into the Carter Garrett Ranch around 12:30 am. A few covert texts to Annie while Zane was dozing off let him know that the coast was clear and that his family were all in the guest house further down the property.

Zane stirred as they hit the first bumps of the cattle grates that lined the drive up to the main house, he was surprised to find out that Ty had gotten them in past the gate. He heard a laugh come from beside him, Ty noticing his obvious surprise.

"I memorized the code last time we were here. Y'all should change that for security and such." Ty said, placing his hand on Zane's. "Talked to your sister while you were out, Harrison is asleep and I'm gonna park the car a little further away from the house so he doesn't see it in the morning, up for a little walk?"

"I'm up for anything with you, doll." Zane replied sleepily "Annie said the guest house had some workers from another ranch in it until tomorrow so we'll have to sleep in my room tonight."

"That's fine with me." Ty said, bringing Zane's hand up to his mouth and kissing his fingers

Everyone was asleep when they made it up to the house and fumbled their way up the stairs to Zane's bedroom. Zane collapsed on the bed, Ty's arms around him, and drifted off into peaceful slumber.

 

~*~

 

The lack of warmth next to him in the bed was enough to stir Zane from sleep the next morning. He looked at the digital clock on the table next to the bed than read out 7:30 in flashing red lights.

"Late for breakfast," he huffed "mothers going to kill me." He jumped out of the bed, throwing on a pair of pajama pants and a loose fitting white v-neck over his bare body and headed for the hallway.

As he got closer to the stairs he could hear a symphony of voices coming from the kitchen, much more than would normally be there, especially on a Monday morning. It had to be the extra workers from the other ranch, he thought, but couldn't shake off the feeling that some of the voices were so familiar.

"Morning everyone, sorry for sleeping in!" He laughed as he galloped down the stairs and came around the corner, the room went silent and he looked up from his thoughts and froze in place.

Looking back at him were the faces of the entire Grady clan. Earl, Mara, Deuce, Livi, Amelia, Chester, and his shovel. Zane had seen a lot in his life but this might have been the most confused he had ever been. He looked to the side of the room and saw Annie and Ty standing next to each other, grinning wickedly. Harrison sat at the head of the table looking like he was about to burst into laughter and Beverly was nowhere to be found.

"UNCLE ZANE!" Amelia's sharp cry broke the silence as Ty began to walk towards him.

Zane took another step and lost his footing, overwhelmed by the sheer surprise of the whole scene, and fell on his ass.

The room went quiet again before erupting into a roar of laughter. Zane sat on the floor staring at his feet, face turning bright red.

Ty came up behind him and put his hand out to help him up, pulling him into a kiss. "Surprise." He laughed

"You. Them. Dad. Annie. What. Shovel. How." Zane stammered, still taken aback.

"Wait," he began again "last night wasn't about dad...it was about them! You tricked me! They're in the guest house! Annie! You were in on this?"

Annie let out a sharp burst of laughter. "Blame your husband, it was his idea! He and I have been planning this for months, Z."

"Happy anniversary!" Mara cried out from among the racket "since the two of ya decided to go off and get hitched without us, breaking my poor little heart mind you, we decided to make ya do it again with us!"

"We're getting married...again?" Zane asked, confused.

"We're renewing our vows," Ty smiled "in front of our family and friends."

"Friends? Who else is coming?" Zane asked, once again surprised.

"Sidewinder boys should be here tomorrow, Clancy and Perrimore should be here this afternoon, barring a major world emergency that requires the FBI. They put in the vacation request months ago."

Zane's skin went hot again and he could feel the familiar stinging of tears in the eyes, good tears, tears that meant he was loved.

"You guys," he sniffled "...thank you."

"Don't cry uncle Zane!" Amelia shouted from the crowd, drawing a cry of "Excuse me, he's my uncle!" from Sadie.

The kitchen shifted back to its normal routine, moving around the two girls arguing over who, in fact, was Zane's niece.

"I'm still confused." Zane said, giving another glance to Ty.

"Catch up, Lone Star!" He said patting him on the back. "We're getting hitched again on Sunday, making it a big spectacle this time. Right here on the ranch."

"I don't have anything to wear." Was the only thing Zane could offer.

"Yes you do, I packed your, meaning my, favorite suit."

"Don't fret about the actual ceremony itself, dear." A voice came from behind him. His mother.

"When Annie came to me with the idea a few months ago, and after speaking to Mr. Grady at great length about what I expect from him as a son, I agreed to plan the event. If it's going to happen it might as well be spectacular. Everything is taken care of. Just be there on Sunday."

"Mom..." Zane began, feeling the tears well up in his eyes, knowing they had come a long way from the first time they were all in the ranch together.

"Not now, dear." She said, taking his hand to her face and patting his cheek. "We have guests, we can speak later when it won't be seen a rude."

And just like that Beverly was off, pulling Mara aside to speak to her.

"We'll be giving you back the guest house today, we just hid in there last night so you wouldn't see us. We're moving into the main house." Deuce looked up from his plate.

The main house. His mother was going to be OK with the entire Wild West Virginian family in her house.

"Am I in the twilight zone?" He asked out loud

"It's fine, Z" Harrison called from the head of the table "It'll be nice to have some foot traffic around the home."

"Sidewinder is staying where they slept last time we were here, under nicer circumstances this time, and Clancy and Perrimore will take the last two rooms in the main house." Ty smiled

"You really thought of everything, didn't you?" Zane asked, still in shock.

"Does that surprise you?"

Zane was silent.

"Shit...are you mad?" Ty asked softly "I know I lied to you for a hell of a while to set this thing up...but I just wanted to surprise you."

"I'm not mad," Zane turned to him, with a smile "I'm as happy as I've ever been in my entire life. Give a kiss you sneaky bastard."

Ty laughed and grabbed Zane by the waist, pulling him in close for a kiss in front of the crowd, earning them an applause from their audience.

 

~*~

 

The rest of the morning was spent visiting with the Grady family. Zane was obsessed with finding out when the planning for this titanic surprise began and just how it all worked out. Ty placated his husband by giving him a play by play of the whole thing detailing the meticulous efforts it took to get everyone in the same place. It sure as shit was a hell of a lot of work but the look on Zane's face when he came down in the morning made it all worth it.

Several trucks helped the Grady family move from the guest house to the main house while moving Ty and Zane's things for them.

Ty spent the next hour waiting for Harrison to have a break in his schedule so he could show him the restored car. When Zane finally came out of the door with his dad Ty was doing internal backflips.

“I can't wait for you to see her, sir.” Ty offered, politely

“Always the polite one, Tyler,” Harrison laughed “I'm really fucking excited myself.”

Ty and Zane both choked on their words, surprised by the language coming from Harrison.

“Let's get this damn show on the road then!” Ty shouted, throwing his hands into the air and running down the drive to where he had half hidden the car the night before.

 

~*~

 

Zane watched Ty as he ran towards the car, he could feel his dad's hand gripping his shoulder tighter.

“Something's happier in that boy, son.” his dad said, looking him in the eye. “Don't know if it's marriage, rest, or what but that boy is as free as the wind. You both are.”

Zane looked to Ty and back to his dad, “Life has been pretty easy lately. No more FBI, just books and cats.” Of course Zane wasn't going to say anything about the CIA but even that was easy. Just baby agents and hardly any field work. Ty would occasionally leave for a few days to give a class or training session to a group of young agents but other than that the days of bullet wounds and knife fights were a distant memory.

“Love looks good on you.” Harrison pulled him into a hug

“Dad...” Zane started

“Hush boy.” Harrison laughed

“Zane!!” he heard Ty call from far down the drive “Cover his eyes!”

“You heard the man,” Zane laughed and stood behind his father with his hands over his eyes as Ty pulled the car towards them.

“OK! You can look now!”

Zane moved his hands from his fathers eyes and took his place next to him one more, looking at him. He saw his eyes widen in pure happiness.

“Well I'll be...I never thought I'd see her looking like this. You done good.”

“Almost everything is pure vintage, aside from the few things I took liberty on, like seat warmers and Bluetooth. Come look at this.” Ty said, popping the hood of the car.

“Damn, that's a beauty.” Harrison called out while looking at the engine. “You did more for this old thing than I ever could have.”

Zane caught his fathers eyes looking between him and the car and wondered just which one of them he was talking about.

 

~*~

 

It was almost dinner time and Ty stood in the dining room looking at the large table that sat there. It was far larger than the one that had been there last time they were on the ranch.

“I ordered one specially made once I realized how many people were going to be in my home.” Beverly told him.

Ty jumped, how on earth did she get the drop on him?

“It's a nice table, huge.”

“There's room for everyone. Last time there was too many people in the house I had to make your friends eat in the kitchen and it wasn't very hospitable. I redid the temporary sleeping quarters for the hands too so it would be more comfortable and inviting for the boys.” she sighed

“I appreciate all the hard work you've done, it means a lot. Not just to me, I can tell Zane is...less tense.” Ty said, looking her in the eyes

“Zane was always a tense boy, god knows I didn't help things. Listen to me, Mr. Grady, If you're looking for an apology you won't be getting one. I've done things I'm not proud of in my life but they always felt right in the moment. I won't apologize because I took actions I thought were in my families best interest.” Ty was caught off guard at this sudden outburst, perhaps she had more of a problem with this than she let on.

“I..” he started but she cut him off

“I cannot change the past but I can do differently in the future. The fact is, I'm not getting any younger, if accepting this and letting your family, a wild band of marines, and FBI agents I've never met into my home just so my son is happy and I don't lose everything that I've worked my entire life to build then that it what I will do.” Ty looked down and could see her first clutching the table cloth. This was a weird moment.

“Regardless,” Ty tried to speak again, “I appreciate it. My family appreciates it. And I know Zane appreciates it.”

Beverly just turned and walked away from him.

“Do me a favor Tyler,” she asked, stopping Ty in his tracks. “Find your mother and have her meet me in the kitchen. I want her take on how to tackle the cake.”

And with that she disappeared behind the swinging door to the kitchen and Ty went in search of his mother.

 

~*~

 

“Christ, Garrett,” Clancy gasped, “I never know you were this loaded! I feel like I'm in an episode of Dallas.”

“There's oil in them there hills!” Ty drawled, mocking her.

“There's no oil here, only cows and horses.”Zane laughed

“And tigers.” Ty shot back

“When do we get to see this tiger?” Clancy asked “Is it coming to the wedding?”

Zane could see Ty's eyes light up out of the corner of his vision.

“Honestly, with everything else he's done it wouldn't surprise me if he figured out a way to involve Barnum and Bailey at this point.”

“You'll just have to wait and see.” Ty replied back in a sing song voice “Where's Perrimore?”

“He's still on the phone with the airline, they lost one of his bags. He keeps telling them how he's going to sue them because there are sensitive government documents in it.” she laughed

“Sadly,” Zane grimaced, “I think he's already lost his case.”

Michelle howled with laughter “That's so fucking stupid.”

Zane saw Ty turn to him, drawing back his legs and kicking him in the shin. He yelped in surprised pain.

“Bad pun penalty, Garrett.” Ty said, turning on his heel and walking back to the house for dinner.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6

 

“It's nice to finally have another girl around here,” Annie said “I swear some days the testosterone gets too much to handle.”

“Tell me about it,” Clancy laughed “try working with predominately men for most of your career. Especially those two.”

She pointed at Ty and Zane who were further out in the yard, running from Amelia and Sadie who were clad in plastic sheriffs hats and chasing the two men who were wearing black plastic domino masks.

“Apologies for my brother.” Annie laughed

“Hardly, life got so much easier once Garrett got to Baltimore. The less we had to deal with Ty the better.”

“I'd like to see Ty in his FBI element.” Annie said, taking a sip of lemonade from her mason jar

“I have something you might like then,” Clancy gave an evil smile, checking back to make sure the boys weren't anywhere near them before pulling out her phone.

She scrolled through her photo album until she got to the file she was looking for. A video. She flipped the screen for a better view and then hit play. The video was shot from behind a two way mirror looking into an interrogation room. Ty sat on one side of the table and a man in a red white and blue tuxedo sat across from him.

 

'Just what were you planning on doing with this?' Ty shouted, holding up a plastic hot dog.

'It's the fourth of July, have some compassion.” Tuxedo Man pleaded.

'It ain't, Uncle Sam, get over it! Why do you need a hot dog that does THIS.'

Ty hit a button on the hot dog and a small blade popped out of it. 'Think long and hard about this'

A snicker came from somewhere out of the recording range of the phone

'Long and hard...it's a wiener'

'Shut it, Garrett, before I smack you!'

The camera swung around to reveal Zane, leaning with both arms against the window, a deep smile on his face.

'Keep looking at Grady like that and I'll start to think you're in love with him.' Clancy said before the video came to an abrupt end with a frame of Zane's face twisting into shock and surprise.

 

“I took that about a month before they started making out in the office, I don't think they would've kept their secret much longer if everything else hadn't happened anyway. I like it better this way.”

“You and my brother are close then, huh?” Annie asked.

“He's probably one of the best friends I've had in my adult life. Helped me through some real shit. Recommended me for his job after he retired. If nothing else I have to be thankful of Ty for bringing him into my life.”

“I'm glad he has friends. Love is great but you need friends too. Z's never been one to make too many of those.” Annie sighed

“Here's to having it all!” Clancy laughed, raising her mason jar up to meet with Annie's in a cheer.

The sat back and watched the boys chase the girls around the yard for a few more minutes, when it looked like the robbers were dangerously close to taking down the cops Clancy smiled,

“Why don't we go help local law enforcement out?”

Annie nodded in reply and they both shot off towards the group “FBI, drop it, down on your knees now!” Clancy ran forward, fake badge and gun raised into the air before tackling Ty to the ground and allowing the two smaller girls to wack him in the face with sticks.

 

~*~

 

“Dude, Clancy hits like a fucking truck.” Ty cried out while laying on the couch in the guest house, his face covered in tiny bumps and bruises from the attack of Sadie and Amelia.

Zane laughed and brought him over and ice pack for his back, Clancy had knocked something of his out of wack when she took him down to the ground.

“She has to, dealing with people like you her entire career.” Zane teased

“Hey, I am one of a kind.” Ty shot back with a boyish grin.

“You won't ever hear me argue otherwise.” Zane leaned over and give him a kiss. “You still up for double date night?”

Ty winced when he remembered that the two of them were supposed to go into town with Mark and Annie for a double date.

“Even if I wasn't there's now way Annie'd let me get out of it.” Ty sighed, defeated.

Annie stood in the entryway of the guesthouse, smiling.

“You rang?” Annie laughed

“Look!” Ty shouted “It's the traitor!”

Annie's husband Mark stepped in behind her, extending a hand for Zane before wrapping him into a hug. He shot a quick glace towards the couch and Ty and his ice cap and gave him a salute.

“Marine.” Mark teased

“Bite me, Texas Pete.” Ty shot back, throwing a pillow from the couch in Mark's direction, who caught it out of the air and returned fire back towards Ty.

“Stop sulking and get to the car so we don't miss our reservations.” Zane said, coming up to Ty and sticking a hand out for him.

“Where are we going anyway?” Ty asked

“Into town, nice quiet little place steakhouse. Friends daddy owns it.”

“Lead the way, darlin'” Ty said, imitating Zane's Texan drawl and sweeping his arms in front of him in an over the top gesture.

 

~*~

 

When they finally arrived to the restaurant they were seated promptly. The server led them to the back of the restaurant, it was a nice little place, dimly lit for a romantic atmosphere, soft music playing through the whole place. Zane sped up a little bit to get in front of everyone in order to claim a seat for Ty that faced the front of the place, he knew how much they both hated sitting with their backs to large crowds and it made it easier to just take a few extra long strides and look like an idiot than to explain to Annie and Mark their reasoning.

The server came to their table and started with their drink order.

“Ice tea for myself,” Zane replied, “This handsome fella next to me will take whatever beer you have on draft.” He caught a glimpse of Ty's raised eyebrow out of the corner of his eye but just silently patted him on his thigh, a beer wasn't going to send Zane over the edge and there's no reason to deprive Ty of a little buzz, especially when he was in pain.

“I'll have an ice tea as well.” Annie said.

“Vodka soda with lime.” Mark announced

Zane coughed at the surprise and Annie almost fell out of her seat with how fast she turned her body towards him.

Mark paid no attention to any of them and waived the waitress off.

Zane could feel Ty's tense energy next to him, he placed his hand back on Ty's thigh and gave it a slight squeeze as a silent plea to just let it go. That plea went unheard.

“Vodka's a little aggressive for an 8pm dinner, don't ya think there Mark?” Ty inquired

“What's it to you?” Mark's eyes flicked up towards Ty.

Zane looked across the table at Annie, her eyes darting back and fourth between the other two men. He could see something in her eyes that gave away that she might have expected something like this would happen.

“Nothin' to me, just a surprising drink choice is all.”

Mark leaned over the table in an effort to get closer to Ty.

“I wouldn't have ordered if it I didn't think Z here could deal with it.” Mark whispered, turning to Zane "You're good aren't you? Not gonna rip it out of my hands and pour it down your throat?”

Zane was stunned into silence, the only thing he could focus on was Ty's nervous bouncing knee and one of his hands curling into a fist under the table.

“Mark!” Annie shot, “That is completely out of line.”

Mark ignored her and instead turned and grabbed his drink off of the tray of the reproaching waitress, throwing it back to his mouth and finishing it in one gulp.“I'll take another.” he laughed

“Mark,” Annie began, a quiet rage brewing beneath her, “if you order another one of those...so help me god.”

Mark flashed his eyes towards Annie and back to the waitress, “Never mind, make that two.”

“I knew I could smell the liquor on you when you got to the house, you got a problem Mark?” Ty asked

Zane could smell it too, it was something he was trying to ignore, hoping it was maybe just an old shirt or that Mark had accidentally spilled something on himself but it didn't seem to be the case.

“I'll be in the bathroom.” Mark huffed and got up from the table

Annie was absolutely terrified across from him, looking towards Zane with pleading eyes.

“Annie, can I talk to you outside for a minute?” Zane asked, getting up from the table and looking back down at Ty, giving him a silent nod to keep Mark occupied when he got back.

He and Annie made it out from of the restaurant before speaking.

“What the hell is going on?” Zane asked

“It just started in the last two or so weeks, he's fine and then out of nowhere he..changes. He's been drinking so much lately.”

“Why didn't you say anything?” Zane asked, hurt. If he could offer any brotherly advice on a subject this would be the best one.

“I didn't want to ruin yours and Ty's anniversary. He promised he would keep himself under control.”

“Annie, how many times did I promise I'd keep myself under control? You know what's happening, you've seen it. You should have come to me when it started, I could have helped him.”

“I'm sorry...I didn't want to involve you. I was scared...scared of it stirring up things for you. You're so happy, I don't want to ruin it.”

“The only thing that's ruining my happiness is that asshole acting like that around my baby sister and niece.”

The front door to the restaurant swung up and Mark marched out towards them.

“Who you calling an asshole?” he shouted

“The only one who's here acting like an asshole.” Zane shot back at Mark as Ty ran through the door behind him, covered in what looked like someones dinner.

“He threw someones plate at me when I tried to stop him, they asked us to get out of here before they called the cops.” Ty sighed

Annie put her head in her hands and started to cry

“Way I see it,” Mark started, “Only four of us here and only two of us want anything to do with an asshole.”

“OK buddy, completely out of line.” Ty yelled, Zane could tell he was about to snap. If two Marines got into a parking lot brawl it wouldn't end well for anyone involved.

Zane walked over to Ty, putting a hand on his shoulder to try to drag him away from the advancing Mark.

“Baby, calm down, he's drunk, he doesn't know what he's saying.” Zane tried to sooth him. He'd been on the opposite end of this many times before and knew just how far someone who was drunk off their ass would go just to provoke a fight.

“Yeah baby, calm down.” Mark said before lunging towards Ty and Zane.

Annie scrambled to try and grab him, she wrapped her hands around one of his arms and tried to hold him in place. He jerked free of her which sent her flying towards the ground with a pained cry.

All three of the men froze. This was bad, Zane thought. He'd been blackout drunk before but never to the point where he lashed out physically like this.

“Annie...” Mark whispered and took a step towards her

Zane looked back to the restaurant and saw the patrons all pressed against the front window, watching them.

“Stay away from her, Mark.” Zane said softly.

“I'm fine,” Annie coughed “It wasn't his fault, he didn't mean to.” She got up and smoothed down her dress and Zane caught a glimpse of a deep gash on her leg where she had fallen. 

“Mark.” Zane said with a quiet rage. “Get in the car. Sit in the back with Ty. Annie, you're up front with me.”

Mark was silent and Zane was trembling, the keys in his hands shaking in anger.

Ty walked over to Zane and put his hands around his waist, pulling him into a hug to try and quiet some of the fear and rage growing below the surface.

“Are you OK?” he whispered

“Can't fall apart yet, gotta wait until Annie is safe and sound.” Zane whispered back, his voice cracking a little bit. Ty craned his head up to give him a kiss.

“I'm here.” he said before walking to Mark and taking him to back seat car door.

Zane walked over to Annie and put his hand around her waist, pulling her in close before taking her to the passengers seat.

Zane spent the entire drive home with one hand on the wheel, the other in Annie's hand, and Ty's hand on the back of his shoulder.

 

~*~

 

"Please don't tell daddy," Annie was the first to break the uneasy silence in the car, startling Ty "please Z, you know he'll kill him." 

"Daddy may have to get in line cuz I'm already thinking of fun ways to do it myself" Zane said with an flat face. 

"And I already know all the good places to dump a body so it'll never be found."  Ty said while looking down at Mark who had since passed out against the window in the car. 

No one said another word until they were back at the guest house. Mark was left alone in the car while the other three went inside. 

"Go sit on the couch and I'll get something to disinfect that cut, it looks deep." Ty told Annie as he went off to the first aid kit. 

He came back in to find Zane alone in the kitchen looking off into space, his fists clenched and knuckles white. 

"Want me to give you two a minute?" Ty asked. 

"No, I don't want to be alone right now." 

Ty smiled at him and wrapped his arms around his waist in an attempt to ease his tension. It only helped a little bit. 

He followed him into the living room, kneeling in front of Annie to take a look at her leg. 

"This might sting a little bit." He smiled up at her with the disinfectant in his hand. 

Ty leaned in closer to get a better look at the wound.

"Jesus, this is deep. Might need stitches. Almost certainly gonna leave a scar." Ty sighed 

"I think it was broken glass..." Annie said in a quiet voice. 

Ty looked up at Zane, his face blank and unreadable. It was Zane at his most terrifying. 

"Annie," Zane said softly, his hands still trembling "has he done this before? Hurt you? Sadie?" 

"God no...I promise. You think I'd stay with someone that hurt me? Or Sadie?"

Ty sat silently in front of Annie, pouring the antiseptic on her knee as she winced. 

"Sorry...might sting a little." Ty offered her a crooked smile. 

"It started about three weeks ago. He kept saying he'd been having a rough time at work and just wanted to relax. It was always after Sadie went to bed and I just didn't bother him. I knew he'd had drinks before dinner tonight but...I didn't know it was this bad. I'm so sorry. Both of you." 

"Nothin' to apologize for." Ty smiled, getting up to sit beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. 

Zane sat down on the other side of his sister. "Don't ever apologize for him Annie. What happened tonight was his fault. His alone." 

"What do I now?" She asked with a huff. 

"Stay here tonight. Mark will be passed out in the back of that car until morning and frankly I don't care what he feels like when he wakes up. You sleep upstairs and Ty and I will sleep down here. We can talk more in the morning when we're all thinking more clearly." 

Zane stood up and pulled his sister into a hug. And as he released her and she turned to walk away Ty pulled her into another one.

 

~*~

 

"How is she?" Ty asked as Zane came down the stairs from the loft.

"Tired. Upset. Her leg hurts. I called dad and told her they'd both be staying here tonight so she didn't have to worry about Sadie. Dad said he and Amelia fell asleep on the couch together anyway." Zane laughed 

"I'll take another look at her leg in the morning to make sure it's OK and we don't have to take her to get it looked at. What're we doing about Mark?" Ty asked. 

"Locking the front door. If he wakes up in then middle of the night he's staying out there." 

"Come here," Ty called, patting the space on the couch next to him. "Tell me what you're thinking." 

"Not so much thinking as remembering how much of a piece of shit that fucked up Zane was..." Zane sighed, "you've seen me pretty bad but you never got to see me at my worst." 

"Something tells me you never threw your sister on top of broken glass." He smiled, pulling Zane into his embrace. 

"I was still a massive piece of shit. Tonight just brought back a lot of stuff I thought I'd freed myself of. Fuck, our entire relationship began with us beating the shit out of each other. Not to mention that fact that I've thrown you across a bar in anger. Who the fuck am I to judge anyone?"

"Listen to me," Ty grabbed Zane's face with both of his hands "don't you ever compare yourself to him. Mark has always been a prick, the alcohol just makes him worse. And you are the best man I've ever know. We've had our fair share of fights but don't you dare insult yourself like that. And don't compare two insanely incomparable situations."

"Ty," Zane was cut off by a finger to his lips. 

"Don't go to that dark place. It's our anniversary week, dammit. We'll kick Mark's ass in the morning and make sure he gets the help that he needs or else me, you, your dad, two FBI agents, and four other Marines who all happen to adore your sister are each taking a different body part to an untraceable location." Ty was completely serious about the last part. 

"I love you." Zane laughed. 

"I know." Ty placed a kiss on his forehead. 

"It's been a while since we got angsty, I forgot how fun it could be." Zane tossed Ty a small smile. 

"Shut it, Lone Star. 

"Sit on it and spin, Meow Mix." 

"Not with your sister upstairs." 

 

 

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 7

 

Ty woke first the next morning just as the sun had begun to rise. He and Zane had tried to make the couch work last night but every way they contorted their bodies and tried to lay on top of each other neither one of them could get comfortable. They eventually settled on sleeping in each others arms on top of blankets and pillows on the floor but even that resulted in a painful morning for Ty who was still feeling the after effects of Clancy's tackle during cops and robbers. His eyes caught a glimpse of Mark outside and sleeping on the ground in front of the truck. This was going to be a fun morning.

He made his way up the stairs to check on Annie and found her asleep as well. He silently moved through the room to get an outfit out of the closet. He settled on a blue shirt with cartoon drawings of a tooth brush and a roll of toilet paper. The tooth brush has a quote with “My job sucks!” over it while the toilet paper had a quote that said “Really?” over it. Ty giggled to himself and made his way for the bathroom to change.

He came down stairs carrying an outfit for Zane to change into when he woke up and found him looking out the large glass window at the back of the house. He walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around Zane's waist.

“How you doing?” Ty asked, placing a kiss on the back of Zane's neck.

“Better after some sleep, even if the sleep was on hardwood floors.” Zane laughed.

“At least you had me.” Ty smiled. “Annie is still asleep up stairs and Mark is out of it on the ground in front of the car.”

“What the fuck are we going to do, Ty?”

“First, food. Second, Annie. Third, I don't fucking know.”

Zane let out a heavy sigh. “I'll go get breakfast started, will you go get Annie up so we can talk before Mark comes around?”

“Sure thing partner.”

Zane turned towards the kitchen and started to set out the supplies he'd need for breakfast as Ty turned back up the stairs.

He rounded into the room and found Annie awake on the bed and looking at her leg.

“Let me check.” Ty announced himself into the room earning a startled jump from Annie.

Annie nodded her head as Ty sat down on the bed next to her and peeled the bandage off revealing a deep cut on her leg.

“It doesn't look like it's started to get infected, area around the cut looks good. A little deeper than I'd like to see but I think you can do without the stitches. Totally going to leave a scar though.”

“At least I'll finally have something to match Zane.” she laughed

“You'll need more than a few of these to come anywhere close to Zane.”

Annie laughed and nodded her head.

“How are you?” Ty asked

“Confused.” she whispered.

“Zane's downstairs cooking us some food. Mark is passed out on the front lawn. Borrow whatever you need from our suitcases to get dressed and come down when you're ready.” Ty placed a hand on her shoulder. “We'll help both of you through this, whatever you want to do.”

“Thanks,” Annie smiled.

 

~*~

 

Zane was in the process of flipping an omelet in a cast iron skillet when Ty came down the stairs.

“She's getting changed and then she'll be down. Leg is fine, not infected, but still a pretty gnarly cut. Gives both of us a run for our money. Told her she can grab whatever will fit her out of either of our suitcases to get out of her dirty clothes and then come down and eat.”

Zane motioned for Ty to come towards him for yet another morning hug. He didn't know what else the rest of the morning would hold and all he wanted on at the moment was just to hold Ty.

“What's for breakfast?” a small voice asked from behind them.

Zane let out a laugh when he opened his eyes and saw Annie. She was wearing one of Zane's FBI shirts and a pair of Ty's boxers.

“Shut up, Z!” she laughed “These are literally the only things in this whole house that fit me!”

“I'll throw your clothes from last night in the washer while we eat so you don't have to see anyone else in that outfit.” Zane laughed

“Seriously though,” Ty said trying to look around Zane to see the stove, “What is for breakfast? I'm starving.”

“Not much to work with here, just a simple omelet with cheese and peppers.”

“Sounds heavenly.” Annie sighed

“Here, last one is done, lets go eat.” Zane said, handing them both a plate and taking the last one out of the skillet for himself.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound coming from the clinking of their forks against the plates.

“What are we going to do, Zane?” Annie finally broke the silence.

“What do _you_ want to do, Annie?” Zane asked back.

He had his own ideas for sure but this was Annie's family and he'd support any decision as long as Mark got the help he needed.

“I can't leave him...” she trailed off.

“The we get him help.” Zane said.

“Rehab?” she asked.

“There's a nice place in Austin, I know some people who work there and could get him in whenever. The sooner the better. But only if he wants the help.”

"Is he even bad enough for rehab? It's only been a month of this kind of behavior..." 

The knock at the door cut off the rest of her sentence and all three of them looked up towards it.

“Mark.” Ty said first.

“I'll get the door.” Zane said while rising. He walked to the door and opened it, taking in the sight of Mark. It was a familiar look of confusion, regret, doubt, and pain.

“Z...” Mark said.

“Come in.” was his only response,

Mark stepped past him and walked into the dining area of the guest house and focused his eyes on Annie. Zane watched as she got up and walked towards him.

“Annie, I'm so sorry.” Mark began, with tears already forming in his eyes.

Zane stood behind them, Ty kept his seat at the table and kept his eyes darting between all three of them.

“Come sit down.”Annie said and led Mark to the table to set opposite her and next to Ty.

The four of them sat and the table was once again covered in silence.

“I...I can't apologize enough for last night. To all of you. Parts keep coming back to me like a bad dream. What I said to you Zane, and Annie...your leg. God. I'm so sorry.”

“You need to get some help.” Annie started “You've been getting worse and worse for the last month. You've been scaring me...and last night was the final straw.”

“I will...I'll stop drinking.”

“You need to do more than just stop, Mark. You need to see someone.”

“See someone? What do you mean?"

"Rehab." Zane interjected.

You think I need to go to rehab? Who do you think I am?” Mark said, his voice growing and his face turning red.

“Watch yourself, Mark.” Ty warned from across the table.

“You stay out of this, this is family business.” Mark shot back at him.

Zane's hand shot out to Mark's arm and clamped down on it, holding him in place.

“Ty is family, Mark. We all saw how you were last night. I speak from experience when I say that you need to get help. Sooner rather than later.”

“This is insane.” Mark snarled and stood up from the table, throwing his chair back.

“No!” Annie yelled. “What is insane is that you threw your wife into a pile of broken glass last night because you were too fucking drunk and out of it to realize you were being a fucking asshole to people who love you. Look at my leg. This is what you did. If I'd fallen a foot or two another way who knows what I could have nicked, an artery or something, I could have been bleeding out all over that god damn parking lot and you'd have been too drunk to care. If you are not serious about getting help today then Sadie and I are gone and don't think for a second that I wouldn't win any custody case.”

Annie had tears pouring down her face.

“I know some people who can get you into the best place in the state.” Zane said.

“Fine,” Mark sighed, “I'll go after the wedding.”

“No,” Annie said, “you will go now. I refuse to let you ruin this week for any of us anymore than you already have. I will change into some regular clothes, we will go to the house, you will tell Daddy. Mama, and Sadie that you're being called out because of work and there's nothing you can do about it. In return I won't tell Daddy about what happened until after you're back that way he won't kill you. Those are the terms and there is no negotiation.”

“Yes ma'am.” Mark said and got up from the table. “Can I borrow some clothes to go see Sadie in?” he asked Ty.

“Sure, everyone else is.” Ty smiled at Mark.

Zane stood and put his hand on Mark's shoulder. “It's going to be OK.”

Mark walked up the stairs as Annie made her way to the washer to remove her dress and place it in the dryer.

“Sister's kinda bad ass.” Ty laughed

“She really is.” Zane said with a small smile.

 

~*~

 

The rest of the morning passed without much fuss. The four of them had gone to the main house and told the story about Mark having to leave for work, Sadie was upset but was quickly distracted by Amelia asking to see her pony.

Ty wondered if they should actually expect Mark to show up at where he needed to be but Zane assured him that he would, if Annie's speech didn't do enough to get him to commit to getting the help then they had far bigger problems than any of them realized.

None of them were able to hold off the promise of telling Harrison about Mark until after he got back. He realized something was wrong almost immediately when they showed up to the house in the morning and he got it out of Annie the second she'd returned without Mark. The three of them spent almost two hours convincing Harrison not to drive to Austin and kill Mark with his bare hands, if only just so it didn't put a damper on the rest of the weeks celebrations.

After that conversation finished it was almost 1pm and a text to Ty's phone let him know that Owen and Digger were begging the long drive up to the ranch from the gate.

Kelly had informed Ty earlier in the morning that he and Nick ended up on the flight behind Owen and Digger because of poor time management skills between packing and sex. Ty's only response to his text was the word 'no' and about 50 handgun emojis.

“Owen! Digger!” Ty heard Zane call out from the porch and rush up to the two men to give them a hug.

Harrison followed after them to give both men a welcoming handshake.

“Wonderful to have you boys back on the ranch under less depressing circumstances.”

“It's wonderful to be here,” Owen replied with a smile “the place is as beautiful as ever, sir.”

Digger pulled Harrison into a tight bear hug to which Harrison could only reply with a loud bark of a laugh.

“Glad you guys finally made it!” Ty called out, coming between both men and putting his arms over their shoulders.

“Well we weren't going to miss this one. It's not every day your best friend gets married to the love of his life, again.” Digger laughed.

“It's not a marriage!” Ty said “It's a vowel renewal! And an apology ceremony for leaving all of ya out of the first one.”

“Regardless, it's gonna be great so see you cry like a little bitch up there.” Owen laughed

“Watch it!” Ty warned, “I have a tiger with your name on it.”

“Speaking of tiger,” Digger said, “when do we get to see this little kitty?”

“I wanted to wait until Nick and Kelly were here but they're still a few hours behind now...”Ty trailed off

“I don't think Barnum or Bailey would mind you making two trips to see them in the same day, doll.” Zane said with a smile, sliding his hand around Ty's waist.

“Think we can round up everyone who wanted to meet them really quick?” Ty asked

“I've got just the trick,” Harrison smiled and walked into the barn.

Suddenly a loud voice boomed through the entire ranch. It was Harrison on the ranch wide PA system.

“Attention: Anyone on the property for the Grady-Garrett vowel renewal who would like to meet my son-in-law's tigers you have promptly five minutes to get to the main house before the caravan leaves without you. I repeat, you have five minutes.” the voice crackled out of the speaker.

“My word,” Mara gasped from behind the group of men “I need to get me one'a them for the house to call all you boys in for dinner.”

 

~*~

 

The entirety of the guest list, save for Beverly and Harrison, were loaded into three cars on their way to the wild cat sanctuary.

Zane sat in the front seat of the Mustang holding Ty's hand as he led the pack of cars to the home of Barnum and Bailey.

Digger and Owen had spent the last five minutes arguing over who would be better cat sitters for Barnum and Bailey and Zane prepared himself to go another round with Ty.

“But Zaaaaane,” Ty whined, “I still don't see why we can't bring Jiminy and Cricket to met their adoptive family.”

“Ty, do I really have to explain why bringing two house cats to a wild cat sanctuary to introduce them to two tigers is a bad idea?”

“But...but...I know Barnum and Bailey would never hurt them!”

“Even if that were so, imagine all the other things that could go wrong. There's more than just Barnum and Bailey there and I really don't think I'd have the energy to bring you back to earth if Jiminy and Cricket were eaten by a white tiger or something.”

“Point taken, now cancel clear that thought out of the universe.”

“Ty.”

“Zane.” Ty glared at him.

“Fine, cancel clear I didn't mean to imagine our cats being eaten. Happy?”

“More than you'll ever know.” Ty said, leaning over to place a peck on Zane's cheek.

 

~*~

 

The group spent the next two hours at the cat sanctuary. The majority of the time was spent watching Ty as he played in the pen with his tigers. After about forty-five minutes the rest of the group warmed up to the idea of playing with them as well. A few at a time filtered into the pen with Ty to spend time with the tigers. Mara received a large hug from each tiger. Earl was given a sloppy wet kiss by Bailey. Deuce and Livi watched in horror as Barnum carried Amelia around the pen in his mouth by the back of her shirt and Amelia had the time of her life, hugging “Orange teddy bear” and refusing to let go. Digger and Owen each played catch with their respective tigers, trying to see which one could make it to the ball and back the fastest. Chester threatened to wear the cats as a suit when Bailey stole his shovel and refused to give it back until one of the handlers had to command him too. Finally, Zane and Ty spent a quiet moment in the pen, sharing a kiss while both tigers laid at their feet.

After everyone had their fill of the tigers, Zane and the rest of the group sat in the lobby while waiting for Ty to return. Owen was flipping through paperwork at the facility and let out a long and sharp whistle when he got to the section about adopting and paying for the care of an animal.

“Jesus, Zane,” he gasped, “You paid this much...twice over just so Six there could have him some furry friends for life?”

Zane nodded, embarrassed, he was never one to flaunt money and whenever someone mentioned him spending a large sum on something specific he always wanted to curl into a ball and roll away.

“Money's not important, Owen.” Ty called, sending Zane's discomfort “Stop bein' nosy.”

Owen held up his hands in defense. “I”m just saying I wish I had someone that loved me enough to drop some coin like that.”

Zane shifted uncomfortably once more.

“Find you a girl you wont run off first 'fore you find a girl who will buy you shit.” Chester sang as he walked by, smacking Owen in the back with his now tooth marked shovel.

Zane let out a gigantic laugh, half in surprise of Chester, half in relief that the conversation had been changed.

“C'mon, let's get back from the ranch. Just got a text from Nick that they're about an hour away. Should be here by dinner time.” Ty laughed as he grabbed Zane by the arm and walked away, sticking his hand in Zane's back pocket as they walked.

 

~*~

 

Harrison stood at the head of the new twenty person table that Beverly had commissioned weeks ago. Each spot on the table was marked with one of the guests names, it was the first day of the week so far that every guest was on the ranch and they were determined to have at least one big dinner with everyone before the next three days before the ceremony stole everyone to sightseeing and boredom.

The Grady's were the first to arrive for dinner, Harrison greeted each of the women with a hug and the men with a firm handshake. He had to admit that they were one of the strangest, closest families he'd ever seen and every time he saw them interact with each other it made his heart soar at the thought that Zane had found a second family as wonderful as them.

The FBI agents came in next, taking their seat and joining the Grady family in small talk. The two Marine Recon men, Nick and Kelly, had just arrived to the home and after being swallowed into a hug by Mara Grady greeted Harrison.

“Nice to see you again, sir.” Nick said, “Glad it's under better circumstances.”

“Same to you, nice to see what you look like when you're not beat up and bleeding.” Harrison laughed.

“Aren't we all?” the Kelly laughed.

The door opened and a shout to the two men in front of Harrison signaled the arrival of the rest of the Marine team. They went about their usual greetings of hugs and punches and took their seat at the table. Annie and Beverly came down from the study to join in on the commotion, Harrison greeting Beverly with a nod and Annie with a hug. He was still pissed from earlier about Mark but now was neither the time nor place to deal with it.

“So,” Annie laughed, “we're just waiting on the guests of honor, huh?”

“I don't even want to know what they're doing that's making them late.” the male FBI agent laughed, Perrimore, Harrison remembered being his last name.

“Punctuality has never been Grady's strong suit.” Clancy laughed.

“I'll have to speak to both of them about how rude it is to keep people waiting on you, especially people who are here to see you specifically.” Beverly said quietly, folding a napkin on her lap.

“Now I'm sure the boys are on there way right now.” Mara sighed

“Just as soon as they're doing playing hide the hot dog.” Chester mumbled.

Beverly choked on the water she was drinking and spilled a small bit on her dress.

“If you'll...excuse me...I must go change.” she hurried away from the table.

“That woman ain't got no sense of humor.” Chester grumbled.

“You won't hear an argument from me on that one.” Harrison laughed and turned to the window as he heard a car pull up.

Ty and Zane had finally arrived. Harrison watched as Zane jumped out of the drivers seat of the old truck and ran around the front of the vehicle, yelling at Ty the entire time not to open the door and get out of the car. Zane reached the passenger side door and opened it for Ty, holding his hand out as an offering to help him jump out of the truck. He pulled Ty into a ferocious hug and held him for a few seconds, neither of the men saying anything, before pulling him into a deep kiss.

Harrison loved catching the two of them in a private moment that they thought no one could see. It warmed his heart to see his son so comfortable and in love, something he never thought would happen to Zane. Harrison took his seat at the table as the boys walked in and everyone assaulted them for being late.

Ty, Zane, Nick, and Kelly all shared a group bear hug before heading back to the table.

“Sorry for keeping everyone waiting,” Ty coughed, “Zane here couldn't decide if he wanted to wear his red boots and black shirt or his black boots and red shirt.”

Zane rolled his eyes and flicked Ty in the back of the head.

“And in the end it was pointless because he just went with the brown boots and the blue shirt!” Ty laughed, "Men? Am I right?”

The entire table erupted into laughter as the first course of the meal was brought out.

Harrison stood from his chair at the head of the table and tapped his glass with his fork.

“Before we eat,” he started, “I just want to take a minute to say a few words. If you would have told me forty some odd years ago that this is where I would be standing I wouldn't have believed you. But life works in mysterious ways and I firmly believe that every single thing that has happened in my sons life was meant to lead to this day. A day when I would see him happy, healthy, and strong. A day when he would have two families, friends, and a man who loved him more than he loves anything else in the entire word. I am endlessly grateful for everything in my life and everyone that is sitting in front of me right at this moment. I didn't really have a plan for this little speech so forgive me if I don't truly make that much sense.”

The table was quiet for a moment before it erupted into applause. Zane stood and walked towards Harrison, pulling him into a deep hug that lasted longer than normal and when he pulled away Harrison could see his son was crying.

Earl Grady stood from the table next.

“Excuse me,” he coughed, “I'd like to piggy back off this moment and say something myself if no one minds. I've watched my son grow into one of the finest men on this here planet. I've seen him overcome so many things in life to end up where we are today. Lord knows when he first told me about Zane I didn't react the way I should have and not a day has passed since that I don't regret that moment but I would not trade anything in my life to have it not end where we are today. Beaumont, you are my pride and joy and every time I look at you I'm overcome with how proud I am. Zane, heaven knows we never got to start off on the right foot and it's no secret you spent most of our time together years ago wanting to beat me silly but my son could not have asked for a greater man than you. The two of you together are like something I've never seen in my life. Everyone should hope that they find someone that loves them a fraction of how much you two love each other.”

The table cheered again and this time it was Ty who rose and hugged his father. Zane and Earl's eyes caught each other and they both gave a respectful and loving smile to each other.

When the hug broke Ty looked across the table at Zane , both with tears in their eyes, and smiled.

“You people have to stop making me cry so damn much!” Annie yelled in exasperation as all four of the men moved back to their seats and the table once again descended into laughter and a celebration of family.

 


	8. Chapter 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8

 

The rest of the week passed quicker than the three days before. Thursday the group took a trip to sight see around the area which led to the caravan that Ty was leading getting lost in the middle of nowhere for about an hour. Harrison had to send Manuel out to find them and lead them back to the ranch after the GPS died.

Friday started with a trail ride on horseback. The entire group watched in a amusement as Ty and Zane argued back and fourth about the need to actually ride a horse. 

"You're going to walk a 10 mile trail? That's 20 miles all so you won't have to ride a horse?" Zane asked incredulously.

"I would rather have blisters all over my feet than ride another one of those terrible things." 

Zane gasped and covered the horses hears. 

"Don't listen to him sweetie he's just a big ol' meany." Zane cooed to the horse. 

"Listen here, Lone Star. Mr. Ed and I just aren't gonna get along. Look st the way he's looking at me. He's plotting!" 

"Ty, he's plotting because you said you were going to take him and his first born and turn them into jello." 

"I'm not doing it!" Ty stomped his foot, imitating Amelia, or just being an actual toddler. 

"Stop being a baby, Beaumont!" Chester called from the back of the group, already on horseback with his shovel in hand. 

"Listen," Zane leaned in to whisper in Ty's ear. "You ride the horse and I'll ride you later and do that thing you've  been wanting me to do for the last few weeks." 

Ty's face turned beet red as he stood up straight and patted down his jeans. 

"All right, everyone!" He shouted while climbing up to mount the horse. "Giddy on up and giddy on out!" 

The entire group groaned and Annie rode up next to Zane. "I don't know what you promised to do tonight but I'll say a prayer for you that you survive." 

 

~*~ 

 

Zane didn't have to do much of anything as it turned out as Ty waddled into the guest house moaning in pain. 

"All we did was ride...I just sat on my ass...how am I in this much pain?" Ty groaned

"You're getting old. And you didn't listen to me when I told you to adjust yourself every mile or so. You're stubborn. You rode twenty miles on a horse. I can go on?" Zane laughed 

"Shut up, asshole. I just want to go lay down." Ty said rounding the corner and then paused. 

Zane came around to look at him and let out a hearty laugh. 

"The stairs." Ty cried. "I'll never make it up." Ty was leaning against the railing when Zane came up behind him. 

"Don't say I never did anything for you," Zane whispered before lifting Ty up into his arms and cradling him. He took each step slowly as Ty looked up at him. They reached the landing and Zane walked to the bed and placed Ty gently onto it. 

"Let's get these off." Zane whispered as he pulled the boots from Ty's feat. Ty let out an almost orgasmic groan at the feeling of relief. 

"That was better than sex." He whispered. 

"Watch it." Zane warned. 

Ty sat up in the bed and began unbuttoning his shirt to take it off and throw it on the floor while Zane undid his pants and slowly slid them off his body. There was nothing erotic about it, sex with the last thing on Ty's mind. 

"You relax here." Zane smiled. "I'll go get you some ice and get started on something for you to eat in bed. We can just stay in tonight. I'll call the guys and have them come down so we can visit with them." 

Ty smiled and nodded as he laid back in the bed and watched Zane descend the stairs. 

"God am I lucky." He whispered to himself. 

 

~*~ 

 

Zane woke first the next morning with Ty in his arms. He laid in the bed for a moment, quietly holding Ty and letting the scenery sink in. 

After a few minutes he crawled out of bed as quietly as he could and slipped on his robe and heard downstairs. The living room was a mess from the Sidewinder visit last night. Chairs toppled over, books fallen from the shelf, a pillow that had somehow been torn open and had the stuffing all ripped out. Zane reached down and picked up the pillow, looking at it inquisitively. 

"I forgot Digger was dared to try to rip open the pillow with his teeth." Ty laughed from behind him. 

Zane smiled and turned around. 

"How are you feeling?" 

"Better. Not as sore. I can actually walk so that's good." 

"Good," he laughed, "were supposed to go over the plan for tomorrow in a little bit and mother would have a cow if you didn't show." 

"Have a cow?" Ty laughed, "Is that a Texas joke?"  

 

~*~

 

“Set up for the ceremony will begin promptly at sundown so I do ask that you two not leave the guest house after that time as I would hate to ruin the surprise of the moment.” Beverly was sitting in front of Ty, reading off her list of instructions for the next day. Zane sat at his side dutifully listening to his mothers instructions. At least one of them was listening because all Ty could focus on was Zane's profile. His strong jaw, the scruff, the gray from his temples growing deeper into his hair.

“Tyler, is there something you'd like to ask?” Beverly snapped, bringing him out of his daydream.

“No, uh...” he coughed, “No ma'am, I think I've got it all down.”

“Good,” she smiled, “now including everyone we have on the ranch and the family and friends who will be here tomorrow it brings our guest list to about forty people.”

“Forty?” Ty and Zane gasped in unison.

“You, did you expect less? I know you can't possibly think the crew you have with you is all that was going to be there? Shocking as it might seem, Zane, there are people around here who do love you and want to see you happy. People who are actually related to us.”

The last line held a bit of contempt, Beverly was putting on a good show but every now and then she slipped back into her more usual, venomous self.

“Cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, there's a world of people out there who love you.”

“No problem with it,” Ty finally said, “just didn't expect there to me that many more people. But the more the merrier, I guess.”

“Good,” she smiled, “I'm glad we won't have any issues. The finer details, such as the walk down the isle, will be given to you in the morning. Tyler, I know you plan to have your

four marines and brother up with you, correct?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“And Zane dear, I know you want your sister and your two FBI friends?”

“That is correct.”

“Good, I'll adjust the seating plans then.” she said, pushing her chair back and getting up from her solid oak desk.

“The two of you have the rest of the day. Best of luck tomorrow.” and with those words she ushered them out of her office and closed the door.

Zane turned to Ty. “Why do I feel like tomorrow is going to be an even bigger spectacle than what you imagined?”

“I didn't know she'd run this wild with it.” Ty laughed, placing his hand on Zane's arm. “No matter what happens tomorrow, if she invites the entire state of Texas to gawk at us, it's still our one year anniversary and we'll still be together.”

 

~*~

 

Ty and Zane stumbled up to the door of the guest house just before sundown that evening. The rest of the day after their meeting with Beverly had primarily been spent relaxing with their friends and family. No special outings or anything crazy planned, just good old fashioned quality time. And now they were finally alone.

“Hurry, get it open.” Ty sighed, his lips pressing against Zane's

“You're going to have to move your hands so I can even reach the door knob.” Zane laughed.

“You still owe me from last night, unlock the door, take me to the bed and throw me around and do the thing.” Ty whispered into Zane's ear, he could feel Zane tremble beneath him with goosebumps.

“The thing, huh?” Zane grinned.

“Yes, the thing. I've been dying for it all day.”

“All you had to do was ask, doll.” Zane smiled, finally unlocking the door and picking Ty up by his thighs. Ty wrapped his legs around Zane's waist and let him carry him into the house and up the stairs. Ty could feel his cock growing in anticipation of the events that were about to unfold.

Zane threw him on the bed and quickly stripped off all of his own clothes. He watched as Ty undid his pants and tore his shirt off without unbuttoning it, sending buttons flying all over the room, bouncing on the floor and rolling under furniture that would probably never be moved.

Ty looked back down at Zane, taking in every inch of his naked body standing above him. No matter how long they were together, how long it was only each other they ever had sex with, he would never get over just how perfect he was. It seemed like every time he saw Zane naked he noticed a something new about him. Today it was that he had a set of scars on the inside of his left bicep that seemed to connect together to form a jagged heart. Ty made a mental note to kiss it when the time presented itself.

“You ready for this?” Zane growled

Ty gave him a silent yes by reaching over to their nightstand and pulling out the small bottle of lube and squeezing a generous amount on his cock, starting a slow rhythm of jerking himself off while Zane watched him.

Zane crawled on the bed next to him, laying down and running his fingers up Ty's body, over the hard ridges of his abs and the sensitive areas of his nipples, Zane's touch sent a shiver up Ty's spine and Zane smiled as he saw the goosebumps begin to form on his lover.

Zane placed his lips at the nape of Ty's neck and repeated the path his fingers took, this time in reverse, with his tongue.

Ty let out a stifled moan as Zane's warm tongue trailed it's way down his body, sending shock waves though him.

When Zane reached the head of Ty's cock he watched as Zane placed his tongue at the tip, delicately flicking it and smiling as he tasted the warm drops of precum.

“It's...sweeter than usual.” Zane smiled, his statement was half a question.

“Pineapples baby.” Ty growled, ever since he read an article in the hotel in Nashville he had been eating at least half a pineapple a day and was pleased to find out how quick the results showed themselves.

Ty gasped as Zane took his cock into his mouth. Zane's hands were slowly making their way up Ty's thighs and every touch was like an explosion under his skin as Zane's tongue worked in tandem with his mouth. The hands reversed their motion and Ty let out a cry as the nails dug into his skin as they were being dragged back down his muscular thighs.

Zane used his hands to push Ty's legs as far apart as he could and then turned his attention to Ty's balls He removed his cock from his mouth and ran his tongue from the head to the base before using his tongue to slowly flick and tease at Ty's balls before taking them into his mouth while jerking Ty off.

Ty was screaming by this point, letting every wave of ecstasy wash over him like a tidal wave.

“Zane...fuck...oh my god.” Ty panted

Zane just smiled and continued his work as Ty's body arched and flexed underneath him.

Zane began to tease Ty's ass with his fingers, slicking them with the bottle of lube and slowly running them over the opening, making Ty shiver.

Zane had other plans though and they both knew it.

In one swift move Zane had removed his mouth from Ty's balls and placed Ty's legs on his shoulder and was pulling him further down to the end of the bed.

Ty let out a soft grunt as his body was pulled to the edge of the bed closer to Zane.

Zane slowly trailed his his tongue from Ty's balls until he got to his ass. And then he let his tongue go wild. With one hand still jerking Ty's rock hard cock he let the other one roam free while his tongue teased and prodded Ty's hole, circling around and slowly pushing in and out, getting him ready for his cock.

Ty's world was on fire, pleasure coming from every angle. Zane's hand on his cock, Zane's other hand on his body, Zane's tongue in his ass. It was a beautiful symphony of ecstasy and Ty could barely contain himself.

“Baby, fuck, oh my god, Zane keep going.” Ty panted out.

Zane responded with a hum, his tongue still playing with Ty's ass. The hum sent vibrations thought Ty's lower body and he arched his body off the bed feeling the strange and unknown pleasure.

They had talked about this specific act before, Zane admitting he'd had it done to him before but had never done it himself. Ty had never been on the giving or receiving end of a rim job but as Zane was working on him below he silently cursed all the years of pleasure he had deprived himself of. All the better, he thought, to experience this for the first time with the person he loved most in the entire world.

“I need you in me, baby.” Ty rasped

Zane's only response was to remove his mouth from Ty's ass and crawl up his body to kiss him, their tongues mingling in each others mouths for a few moments before Zane reached for the lube and coated his hard cock with it.

“I want to see your face for the whole thing.” Ty pleaded.

“Whatever you want, doll.” Zane smiled and slowly slid his aching cock into Ty's ass, keeping their eyes locked on each other as he entered him.

“God baby you feel so good.” Zane moaned.

Ty pulled Zane's face back to his for another passionate kiss, eyes still open and staring into each others souls.

“Harder.” Ty commanded.

Zane picked up the rhythm, rocking himself in and out of Ty with a greater force, pulling his cock almost completely out of him before snapping forward and driving back into his husbands ass as deep as he could.

Each snap of his hips was met with a welcomed cry from Ty who was being assaulted with pleasure.

“Choke me.” Ty smiled.

Zane hesitated for a moment until Ty grabbed his hands and placed them on his neck.

“Squeeze.” was all Ty said.

Zane felt his grip tightening on Ty's neck as his thrusts became more energetic, he was now in the hard and fast potion of love making and the feel of Ty's throat around his neck made it all the more frantic.

Ty's hands were running up and down Zane's arms as his hands held around his neck. Ty felt every muscle in his husbands arms as he used them to pull his body up and down on his hard cock. They were both getting close. Ty could tell by the hitch in Zane's breath every time he pulled out. Ty was close just from the sheer loss of control he'd give into. If you had told him back in 2008 that the man he was introduced to as his new partner would later become his husband and he would be laying under him letting Zane choke him, the ultimate loss of control for someone like Ty Grady, he would have shot you. But here he was, under Zane, giving every inch of his body over to him, and he could never live without it again.

“I'm gonna cum!” Zane shouted, breaking Ty from his thoughts.

“Fill me up, baby.” Ty screamed as Zane unloaded inside him, the warmth hitting him in spots so deep in his body he didn't even know he could feel them. The euphoria was enough to send Ty over the edge as well. He let loose and with a scream he was covering his body with his cum, stream after stream kept coming, all the way up his body, over his abs, and even hitting his face. His body went slack as the last wave hit, no energy left inside him to keep him rigid.

Zane collapsed next to him, breathing heavily and taking in the sight of Ty covered in trails of cum up to his hairline.

“That was...something else.” Zane laughed.

“Yeah...” Ty sighed

“You're a little messy.” Zane smiled.

“Can't open my eyes, too much cum, it burns if it gets in your eyes.” Ty laughed.

“Let me help with that then.” Zane purred, running his tongue over Ty's face, cleaning it of most of the sticky fluid.

“Don't stop with the pineapples.” Zane laughed as Ty finally opened his eyes.

“We both look disgusting.” Ty smiled.

“I don't know, I think this ranks up there with the hottest you've ever looked.”

“I'm glad someone enjoys me covered in cum.”

They both laughed as Zane got up to hand Ty a wet rag to clean the rest of himself off.

He settled back down in the bed next to him and Ty placed his head on Zane's chest.

“So,” Ty smiled, “you did the thing.”

“I did,” Zane grinned, “how was it?”

“It felt like...heaven.” Ty sighed.

“We'll have to incorporate it more often then.” Zane promised. “How's your neck? I didn't hurt you did I?”

“No,” Ty laughed, “sorry that came out of nowhere. It felt like it would be fun in the moment.”

“Don't be sorry, it was hot as fuck.”

“We'll have to incorporate it more often then.” Ty said, a smile in his voice. “Shower?”

“Yeah,” Zane huffed, “you get in and I'll come and join after I put the sheets in the washer. They're a bit messy.”

Ty laughed and headed for the shower as Zane began to strip the bed behind him.

 

~*~

 

Zane never made it to the shower and Ty was pissed.

“You know, you wait in the shower long enough to get all pruney for some dude who just never shows up, what kind of shit it that?” He yelled from the bathroom, wrapping a towel around his waist and stepping out.

Ty looked around the room and there was no Zane in sight. The bed was still stripped and he could hear the whirl of the washing machine going downstairs.

“This isn't funny, Zane, where the fuck are you hiding?” Ty called from the top of the stairs.

No answer.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs he checked the rest of the house and still no Zane.

“Don't panic.” he said to himself in a low voice.

He searched from top to bottom with no trace of Zane until he saw it sitting there on the counter. A small white piece of paper with his name on it.

His body froze and panic set in. This is it, he thought, he's gone. Just like I did all those years ago.

He walked to the note and unfolded it and stared at the foreign handwriting, confused and worried.

 

 

It's bad luck to see the bride on the wedding day

so I stole my brother for the rest of the night.

Don't worry, he was kicking and screaming.

See you tomorrow.

Love, Annie.

 

 

Ty finally took a breath after realizing he hadn't since he saw the note and started to laugh.

“I'm going to kill her.” he yelled as he ran back up the stairs to grab his phone and call Zane. He answered after one ring.

“Tell you sister if she ever done that again we're never coming back here.”

“I'm sorry! She didn't give me a choice!” Zane laughed.

“I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at her!” Ty rambled, “I was so fucking scared. I thought you were leaving me!”

“Why would I leave you after what we just did?” Zane laughed and a smile formed on Ty's lips.

“I don't need to hear the rest of the conversation!” Annie's voice called out from the other side of the phone.

“I've got to go.” Zane sighed.

“Sleep tight, darlin', I'll see you tomorrow.” Ty smiled.

“Love you, doll.”

“Love you too.”

Ty hung up the phone as the washing machine buzzed, signaling it was finished, and went to place the sheets in the dryer. At least some alone time would give him extra time to practice the final surprise he had in store for Zane tomorrow.

 

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9

 

The sun rose over the Carter Garret Ranch as Zane sat on the edge of his bed in his childhood bedroom. It was finally Sunday and in just a few hours he and Ty would be married. Again. But not really. 

“Remind me again why I didn't get to wake up in the arms of my husband this morning?” he asked his sister.

Annie let out an amused chuckle “Because it's bad luck to see the person you're marrying on the wedding day!”

“Remind me again why that rule even matters since we've already been married for exactly a year today?”

“Because, dear brother, you both went and got married without -”

“- without any of us around and now this is going to be done your way or the highway.” Zane cut her off and finished the sentence for her.

“Good, I'm glad we both could come to this understanding!” Annie smiled and stood up in front of Zane, patting his shoulder. “Any nerves?”

“Actually,” Zane said with an edge of surprise in his voice, “yes.”

Annie raised her eyebrow.

“Not so much nerves as...butterflies. Our original wedding was perfect, it was exactly Ty and I. But this has a lot of expectations to it. You, mother, his parents, all of our friends. It's a different feeling.”

Annie smiled and pulled Zane into a hug, as she released a soft knock came from the bedroom door.

“Come in.” Zane called out.

The door opened and Mara stepped into the room with a smile and a mug of coffee for Zane.

“Morning.” she smiled softy.

“How's Ty?” Annie asked, “He still mad I stole Zane from him while he was in the shower?”

“Don't know,” Mara laughed, “haven't seen him yet this morning. He'll survive it though. I was wondering if I could borrow Zane here for a minute.”

Zane was puzzled, why would Mara come see him before she'd even seen Ty?

“Sure!” Annie smiled, “I need to go find the event staff and make sure mom hasn't hurt any of them yet. Before I go...you sure you're still OK with the open bar? I can tell them to kill it, especially after the other night with Mark...”

“No,” Zane laughed, “trust me, all I'm going to be able to think about tonight is Ty. And I know the natives would be restless without something to drink. I appreciate it though.”

Annie smiled again, nodding her head and leaving the room to Mara.

“How's my favorite son-in-law doing?” Mara asked with a grin.

“Mara, I'm your only son-in-law.” Zane laughed.

“Still my favorite!” she pulled him into a hug. “I just wanted to see how you were, wedding day and all.”

“Everyone keeps saying that! We've already been married for a year so I don't get why everyone thinks I'm going to pull a runaway bride.”

“It's not that, sweetie, and I'm just gonna come out and say it cuz the lord and you both know I don't bite my tongue and no one in your family wants to upset you,” she took a breath, “it's a big wedding with all your friends and family and some people just want to make sure it doesn't bring up any rotten memories of your first wedding or that wife of yours.”

“Oh.” Zane said.

“So now that the cat is out of the bag, tell me how you're really feeling. Trust me enough to know that I'll keep anything between you and I darlin'.” Mara placed her hand on his knee.

“Truthfully? I've been trying to avoid comparisons. It was a big church wedding, more for the benefit of the family than what either of us wanted. I barely even remember it, I couldn't tell you what colors the flowers were or what we served , half of the songs we danced to, nothing. I haven't been able to for years. I avoid thinking about it because...because it makes me feel guilty, like I should remember all of it, for her. But I don't.” Zane let out a long sigh and looked over to see Mara still smiling at him.

“Sweetie,” she began, “that's normal. I couldn't tell you half the stuff from my wedding day. You have nothing to feel guilty about. I'm sure she's watching from wherever she is and thinking thank god you finally pulled yourself together and are happy.”

"I never thought I'd love somebody more than I loved her, then I met Ty, and here we are. I wouldn't have believed it if you told me all those years ago that I'd be married again with someone I loved even more than here." 

"That's life," she gave him a warm smile, "now get yourself over here and give me a hug Zane Garrett."

Zane pulled Mara into a tight embrace, a tear rolled down his cheek, in just a few short years he felt that Mara was more of a mother to him than his own, another thing that made him feel guilty.

“I love you galloping crazies.” he said with a laugh.

“And we love you.” she laughed back.

“Thank you.” he said, another tear rolling down his cheek.

“For what?” she asked.

“For everything. Raising him the way you did, welcoming me with open arms, everything.”

“You are very welcome. Now stop your crying, you're making me lose it to! We're burning daylight and we've got too much to do before the ceremony! Get your behind down to the kitchen!”

Zane laughed and watched as Mara shuffled her way out of the door and down the stairs and Deuce ran by the open door with a wave, being chased by Amelia, who in turn was being chased by Chester, running shovel first with Jiminy perched on it.

“Got a man to see about some cats!” Chester cried as he ran past the open door.

Galloping crazies, Zane thought. And he was one of them.

 

~*~

 

“Dead man walking!” Digger called out when he saw Ty at the top of the stairs.

Ty rolled his eyes and took in a birds eye view of the guest house. The entirety of Sidewinders was below him. Kelly was helping Nick with his bow tie while Nick was swatting at his hand and telling him to stop messing with it. Owen sat at the counter with a drink in his hand, eyes closed, trying to drown out the chaos. Digger stood in the living room playing peak-a-boo with Sadie who had somehow wandered into the guesthouse. Annie ran thought the door behind her, frantically looking for her daughter who was still evading her. The door flew open once again and revealed Deuce being chased by Chester and his shovel, two cats hopping in behind him.

“What in the hell?” Ty muttered to himself with a giggle as he walked down the stairs.

Jiminy and Cricket ran up to him, both making the jump for his arms at the same time and colliding mid air. The entire guest house exploded into laughter as the cats made a run for the nearest hiding place.

“Everyone be on the look out for Annie. Make sure she doesn't kidnap you.” Ty glared at her.

“Good morning to you too, sunshine.” she smiled back. “Nice to know both you and my brother are so damn cheery this morning.”

“How's he doing?” Ty asked.

Annie held her arms up in an exaggerated 'i don't know' gesture, “You'll have to ask him when you seem him later.” and gave a laugh while scooping Sadie up off the ground and walking out.

“She's kinda scary.” Owen groaned from the counter as Annie left the room.

“You don't know the half of it.” Ty laughed.

“How's my big brother doing on his big day?” Deuce asked from behind them .

“Well,” Kelly laughed, “no one's been murdered yet so things seem to be going pretty great for everyone so far.”

Nick gave him a soft punch on the arm, “Shut up, idiot.” he groaned.

“Don't jinx it,” Ty laughed, “we are in Texas after all.”

“You're going to die when you see what Beverly did to the place.” Digger called from the living room.

“Is it that bad?” Ty asked.

“Not at all. You'll find out soon enough.” Deuce laughed.

“How's the whole aisle thing working?” Nick asked.

“From my understanding,” Deuce started, “ the whole ceremony area is tented in the main field of the property. The five of us walk in and down the asile one by one, Zane's party does the same, then the flower girls, and then Ty and Zane each enter the tent from a different side, meet in the middle, and walk down together.”

“Aww,” Nick grinned, “isn't that so sweet?”

“Shut it, Irish.” Ty growled, throwing a dish towel at his face.

“How much longer do we have to wait around here?” Digger asked, his excitement seeping out into every word.

“Should be about another hour or so until the ball gets rolling.” Harrison offered from the front door.

“Mr. Garret.” Nick said, going up to offer him a handshake, followed by the rest of the men.

“I've told all you boys, just call me Harrison.” He smiled. “Do you mind if I steal Ty here for a minute?”

“Ooooh, someone's in trouble.” Kelly said in a sing song voice.

“Nothing of the sort,” Harrison laughed, wacking him on the back of the head, which sent another ripple of laughter through the room.

“Why don't you two head upstairs away from these yahoo's” Deuce laughed as Harrison and Ty both nodded and set out for the stairs.

Harrison and Ty settled into the two large chairs in the bedroom.

“I just wanted to say it now since I wasn't at the original one, I'm very happy to welcome you into this family, son.” Harrison smiled.

“That means a lot to me, sir, more than I think you even know.” Ty smiled.

“How so?” Harrison asked.

“Everyone always points out how good I was for Zane, how I saved him, and I don't really think it's fair.” Ty said, Harrison started to say something but Ty continued, “Hear me out. Zane and I both came into each others lives at a time when both of us were, for lack of a better term, really fucked up. We both grew together. For as much as I helped him, he helped me. I used to be so closed off, afraid of myself and loving someone, and Zane changed it all. He helped me come out to my family, come to terms with myself and my sexuality, he's helped me through god knows how many PTSD episodes, not to mention the countless times where he has literally saved my life...and killed to do it. He did it all while helping himself. I didn't save Zane, Zane saved himself. I may have given him the push he needed but I knew back when I got recalled into service that god forbid something happen to me, that he would be OK.” Ty could feel tears rolling down his face. “What I'm trying to say it that his change isn't to my credit alone and I didn't just save him...we saved each other.”

“Well,” Harrison coughed to mask the emotion in his voice, “I thank my lucky stars that you two found each other.”

He pulled Ty into a gigantic hug, Ty returned the favor and the men broke apart with a laugh.

“Stop crying, it's your wedding day.” Harrison put his hand on Ty's shoulder and smiled before turning to walk down the stairs.

 

~*~

 

The large white tent sat in the middle of the field. A cool February breeze blew through the air and over the flat field of grass.

Zane was in his designated area to the left of the tent. Each group had a smaller tent for their respective wedding parties to wait in until the ceremony officially began. Zane kept craning his neck out of the opening to see if he could catch a glimpse of Ty somewhere in the area. He was doing it so often that Clancy had to be the designated entrance guard, it was her job to inflict physical trauma on Zane if he was caught trying to sneak a peek.

Clancy stood there, her long red hair cascading down her shoulders, in a stunning black and white dress.

“I can't believe I'm actually going to watch you two get married, this is so surreal.” Clancy laughed.

“You're telling me!” Annie laughed from behind them. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers, her long dark hair in a similar hairstyle as Clancy, also in a black and white dress. Perrimore stood off to the side, his suit in a similar black and white style.

“It's cute that you guys planned the outfits.” Zane laughed.

“I don't even want to know what kind of disorganized mess Ty's side has going on with their outfits.” Clancy laughed.

“I'm sure they all look amazing.” Zane smiled.

He wore his black and charcoal pin stripe suit that Ty loved so much and he hoped to god that Ty was in his tight fitting blue suit.

The crackle of a walkie talkie broke the silence.

“Places everyone, places, the ceremony will begin in one minute.”

“She really set up a walkie system?” Zane laughed.

“It's mom, I'd have been more surprised if she didn't.”

The walkie crackled to life again.

“Grady wedding party, take your place to begin the entrance.”

The music flared to life in the tent, it wasn't a traditional wedding march, thank god. It took Zane a moment to recognize it but once he did his eyes instantly began to water. It was the same song he and Ty had slow danced to in the living room of the row house a few years ago.

Pull yourself together, Garret. He thought.

It was then he saw the other wedding party, minus Ty.

Each man wore a suit in a different shade of blue. Deuce had the lightest shade, a sort of cerulean blue, and the blue color got deeper and darker as it went along until it finally reached Digger who was in a suit so deep, dark blue it was almost black. Zane's eyes began to water again.

He watched as one by one they made their trip to the aisle, disappearing as soon as the long walk began. Deuce, then Nick, then Kelly, then Owen, then Digger. A few moments went by after all the men made their way to the front of the tent and the walkie crackled again.

“Garrett party, places.”

The three of them lined up in order from Annie, the Clancy, then to Perrimore. One by one they each disappeared out of the tent and into the long white hallway to begin their march. Finally, Zane was left alone in the tent with just Sadie. He knew he was supposed to make sure Sadie got out of the tent and to the top of the aisle to meet with Amelia and begin their walk down as dual flower girls.

“Ready the flower girls!” the walkie came to life again.

“Sadie, sweetie,” Zane said, “are you ready?”

“Of course, Unlce Zane!” she smiled.

“Good! Now go out there and make sure Amelia meets up with you so you can both do your job!”

“You got it!”

He watched as she ran out of the tent and to the top of the aisle, Amelia reaching the same point at nearly the same time as her. A ripple of laughter and applause came through the tent as the two girls started their trip down the aisle. It was almost time. He still hadn't caught sight of Ty and he realized he was actually thankful of Annie for keeping them apart all day, it made it all the more special.

The walkie crackled to life for one final time.

“Ready the grooms. Move on my mark. 3,2,1. Go.”

Zane stepped out of the smaller tent and into the long white hallway that seemed like it would never end. From the other end he could see Ty sticking out like a deep blue light in the white surrounding. Zane's hands began to tremble. We're already married, he thought, why am I so nervous? Then Ty flashed him that award winning smile and he knew in an instant that it was because of Ty fucking Grady, that man would always get to him, and he loved it. They both moved at the same time, trying to make sure they met at the exact moment. They reached the top of the aisle together and stopped, looking into each others eyes as the song played behind them.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Ty smiled.

“Who would have thought?” Zane smiled back.

“Are you feeling this too?” Ty asked, holding out his hand.

“Yes.” Zane smiled, clasping his hand in Ty's as they both turned and began to walk down the long aisle which was lined on both sides with thousands of beautiful orchids. 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the link to the song in this chapter is hotlinked into the text so if you don't know it open it up and let it play when you get to that point!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

 

Ty stood in the long white hallway, eyes fixed on Zane at the opposite end. He had to remind himself to breathe as he took in the sight of him from far away in his favorite suit. Even though this was their one year anniversary he could still feel all the same nerves he was feeling back in Baltimore right before their improvised wedding.

When they finally met Ty felt the world stop around him, all he could think about was how beautiful Zane was and how much he loved him, and he wanted nothing more than to grab him and kiss him. He was jolted from his haze by the sound of the music around them, he had told Annie about the dance in the living room, the one where Zane first admitted his love to Ty while blind and scared out of his mind, early in their conversation about the wedding but he never imagined it would end up being the song they walked down the aisle to. But hearing it now he knew that there was nothing else in the world that would make sense but this song.

“Fancy meeting you here.” he smiled.

“Who would have thought?” Zane returned, offering Ty a beautiful smile.

They were both silent for another moment as the music swelled around them. Ty could feel everyone's eyes on them, waiting for them to make a move, but he didn't care. They could wait all day for all he cared, he was going to take this in for all that it was worth.

“Are you feeling this too?” Ty finally smiled, echoing the same words from all those years ago, the time when both of them had been terrified of what the other could mean to them.

There was another brief pause as Zane let a smile creep over his face at the sound of the words.

“Yes.” he breathed, taking Ty's hand in his own and turning to face the aisle to begin their walk.

Ty's breath caught as he took in the inside of the tent. You'd never be able to tell that what they were standing inside of was a basic white party tent. The aisle, which Ty could have sworn was at least a mile long, was lined on both sides with thousands of white orchids. The aisle itself was covered in petals of lavender orchids from Amelia and Sadie's flower girl duties. As the aisle came to an end there were a few small steps that led to where they would stand, complete with a man behind a pulpit who would be reading off whatever it is that gets read at a vow renewal. None of that mattered to Ty. It was what was behind the pulpit that truly took his breath away. Behind the man stood a towering wall that reached from the ground all the way to the top of the tent and the wall was covered with orchids. The white and lavender colors swirling together on the wall to create beautiful swathes of color all over the wall that was easily thirty to forty feet high.

“Beverly really went all out, huh?” Ty asked Zane as they walked down the aisle.

“This is...insane.” he laughed, “I can't believe she did all of this for us.”

“Annie said once she told her that she took over the planning and just asked for a few ideas of what we liked.” Ty said.

“I love that orchids are our thing now.” Zane smiled, squeezing his hand into Ty's.

“People are looking at us funny,” Ty laughed, “I don't really think we're supposed to be talking right now.”

“Let them look. They can see how lucky I am.”

Ty laughed. “We're almost to the end, last chance to turn back Garrett.”

“I'd never give you the satisfaction of being left at the altar, Grady.”

 

~*~

 

Beverly watched the ceremony unfold from her spot in the front row. She was attempting to admire how her vision came together when she saw Zane's smile and couldn't turn away from it. She watched as her son and Ty spent their entire walk down the aisle talking to each other and smiling. She had never seen Zane with such a smile on his face, not even on the day of his first wedding years ago when he saw Becky as she came down the aisle. She couldn't believe how happy and healthy her son looked. She would never admit it to anyone, not even on her death bed, but this Tyler Grady may actually have something to do with it.

The music came to an end as the boys reached the altar and the room took it's seats. Beverly watched as the man officiating the ceremony opened a book and began to speak.

“Dearly beloved,” he began, opening up his arms and gesturing to the crowd, “we are gathered here today with Ty Grady and Zane Garrett, on the one year anniversary of their joining, to reaffirm the bond and commitment of marriage between these two men.”

She watched her son studiously, his eyes never broke contact with Ty, and that smile never left his face. Their hands were clasped together with their thumbs unconsciously rubbing each others ring fingers. If Beverly had it her way they would be exchanging rings but Annie spent almost a week telling her that they didn't do rings and they just had tattoos instead. Some things she would just never understand.

“We will begin with the vows, Mr. Grady I believe you've said you would like to go first?”

“Yes, please.” Ty said.

Beverly could see her son raise an eyebrow at Ty's instance to go first.

“Zane,” Beverly could detect a trace of nerves in Ty's voice, “I can't believe it's already been a year. I've spent every day in the last year, even the days that people were trying to kill us, _especially_ the days that people were trying to kill us, thanking whatever higher power there is that we found each other. I don't know where I'd be in my life without you. I suppose I'd probably have died in 2008 without you there to have my back.”

Ty paused and Beverly could tell he was beginning to shake. She didn't know if it was from nerves, happiness, or reliving memories that the two of them had hardly shared with anyone else.

“Another thing I've thought about over the last year was how much we've been through. I've thought of the fights, the arguments, the struggles, everything I've done that hurt you and that you've done that hurt me , and I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't change any of it for the world. All the heartbreak, the pain, the love, the laughter, the good times, and the bad times, all of it made us what we are today. We were forged together in the hottest of fires and we came out of it unbreakable. There is no one else in this universe that I could ever see myself with, no one I could ever trust and love as much as you. I love you so much, Zane Garrett. We've been in Texas for an entire week and nothing has tried to kill me, I think that proves just how far we've come and just how far we will go together.”

Ty held Zane's hand up to his lips and kissed his ring finger, Beverly could see from her seat that both men's eyes had already begun to fill will tears before the ceremony was even half over.

Ty coughed and spoke up once again, “I just realized how much of that was about death and people trying to kill us, sorry.”

The tent roared with laughter as Beverly shifted in her seat. These people and their obsession with death.

“I wouldn't have it any other way.” Zane told him, looking deep into his eyes.

Zane cleared his throat before he began.

“I spent so much of my life before you as a sad, closed off man. I did my job, went home, drank myself half to death, and woke up to do it all over again the next day. I had nothing to live for, no one I loved enough to try and make myself a better person, until I fell in love with you. You've taught me so many things over the years, most importantly that I need to love myself, not just so I'm happy and healthy for you, but so I'm happy and healthy for myself. And for that I will be forever thankful. Waking up every morning for the last 365 days to you as my husband has been the most rewarding year of my life. Waking up to you, our book store, even the damn cats, has filled a part of my heart that I didn't even know was there. I can't wait to wake up to you every morning for the rest of my life and fall in love with you over and over again when I see you still asleep next to me. You've given me love, happiness, a whole other family who is filled with some of the craziest, most amazing people I've ever met, friends who I know would put their life on the line for us just as we would for them. Here's to spending the rest of our lives together crazy in love...and just plain freaking crazy.”

Beverly could make out the tracks of Zane's tears flowing down his face, she could hear sniffles coming from all over, nearly everyone in attendance crying over both of their vows. She held a fonger up to her eye and wiped away a single tear before it had the chance to form.

“Beaumont Tyler Grady, do you stand here today to reaffirm your love and recommit yourself to your husband?”

“I sure as hell do.” Ty smiled as the crowd laughed.

“Zane Zachary Garrett, do you stand here today to reaffirm your love and recommit yourself to your husband?”

“Without hesitation.”

“Very well. As a sign of your love and devotion for each other, you may now kiss.”

Beverly watched as both of their hands sprung to the others face, pulling themselves forward into a passionate and almost violent kiss. The kiss lasted for almost a minute before their faces broke apart. They turned to the crowd and held each others hands up in a victory pose as a wave of cheers and applause roared through the tent. The entire audience stood, clapping and crying, Beverly among them.

She felt a wave of happiness ride through her body standing there and seeing how happy her son was, this was who he loved and nothing she could say or do would ever change that, and she was content.

Her gaze caught Ty's and they stared at each other for a moment.

“Welcome to the family, Ty.” she mouthed to him and watched as the smile took over his face as he realized what she had just said to him.

He mouthed back a “Thank you.” before turning to Zane and kissing him once more.

 

~*~

 

The reception was held on the front lawn of the main house, the same area where the annual 4th of July barbecue is held. There was a small stage for the band and a dance floor set up in the front of the venue with smaller tables for the guests scattered around the one large table in the middle that sat Ty, Zane, the Grady's and the Garrett's. It had been a night so far filled with laughter, food, and dancing. Zane even manged to talk Ty into a line dance with him, one that Clancy recorded for future blackmail use. The party was beginning to wind down as the sun sank lower into the sky when Zane noticed a few people missing from the table.

“Has anyone seen Ty?” he asked

“And Annie...and Chester...and Deuce?” Zane looked around even more confused. Nick came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I think you'll see them in a few minutes.” He laughed.

“Nick...what is going on?” Zane asked

Nick held up his hands and shrugged, “No one tells me anything!”

“You're such a lair.” Zane sighed, “Kelly, do you know anything?”

Kelly held up his hands, “I plead the fifth!”

Zane rolled his eyes and left the table in search of someone with answers. He moved through the crowd looking for a glimpse of anyone but they were nowhere in sight. On his way back to the table he saw his mother standing at a corner table talking to a woman who looked to be around her age, she had silvery blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and held herself with a quiet dignity, they seemed to be sharing some kind of moment. Zane could tell from his mothers body language that she didn't have any of her usual walls up and he watched from a distance as they smiled and pulled each other into a hug. Zane caught of a glimpse of his mothers face and swore he could see tears in her eyes. He walked forward to introduce himself to her and join the conversation when he was distracted by the music cutting from the stage area. He looked around as the room fell quiet and saw Ty standing on the stage at the microphone.

He tapped the mic a few times as it screeched, Zane held his hands up to his ears to try and block out the high pitched sound and watched as Ty adjusted the stand to his height.

“Sorry to interrupt the party,” he laughed, “first I just want to thank everyone who came out for this, I know a lot of you flew in from out of town and it means a lot to both of us. Now, while I have your attention I want to say hi to Zane, I know you're out there so come a little closer to the stage please.”

The entire room turned there head to his position and parted so he could move closer to the stage.

“Hi, baby.” Ty smiled.

Zane smiled back, unable to form words through his confusion.

“So, I've spent the better part of the last few months stressing about what to get you as a present for our anniversary, now before you say 'I don't need a present when I have you' don't even bother, while flattering, you do deserve a present and I finally decided on what it's going to be.”

“What? A stand up routine?” Clancy heckled from the back of the audience as everyone began to laugh.

“Love you too, Michelle, bite me.” Ty said into the mic. “No, but my gift does involve me and this stage and my voice. Zane here loves to hear me sing, I don't do it as often as I should because it embarrasses the hell out of me half the time, but I'll make an exception for tonight.”

Zane stared out at the stage, wide eyed, unable to do anything but blink.

“I will preface by saying that I had an entirely different song prepared for this until I went snooping through my husbands iTunes and found his most played song, it seemed to fit pretty perfectly so my band and I changed the plans at the last minute, we've only had a few days to rehears this in private so please be gentle.”

“Band?” Zane wondered out loud.

“Please welcome to the stage,” Ty began, “on piano, the beautiful Annie Masterson, on the guitar, my brother Deuce, and here to pluck away on the banjo, my grandpa, Chester.”

Zane watched as the three other people filtered onto the stage. Annie took a seat at the piano and flexed her fingers, Deuce picked up an acoustic guitar and sat on a stool near Ty, and Chester walked onto stage clutching a banjo in place of his usual shovel.

“What in the...” Zane laughed.

Ty grabbed the mic in his hand and looked Zane directly in the eyes, “This one's for you baby.”

The [song began](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMmqh4Ut_Uo) with a piano and spoken intro that Zane was all too familiar with. Holy shit, he thought, as tears immediately began to fill his eyes.

 

When I first saw you, I saw love.  
And the first time you touched me, I felt love.  
And after all this time, you're still the one I love.

 

By the time Ty's voice was singing the opening note he had lost it, tears streaming down his face as Deuce and Chester's instruments began.

 

Looks like we made it  
Look how far we've come, my baby  
We mighta took the long way  
We knew we'd get there someday  
  
They said, "I bet they'll never make it."  
But just look at us holding on  
We're still together, still going strong

 

Zane could barely contain his tears as the chorus began, he didn't even have it in him to find it hilarious that Deuce and Annie were doing backing vocals for Ty because he was so overcome with emotion.

 

(you're still the one)  
You're still the one I run to  
The one that I belong to  
You're still the one I want for life  
(you're still the one)  
You're still the one that I love  
The only one I dream of  
You're still the one I kiss good night

 

Zane could hear Ty's voice start to break as they stared at each other while he was singing, he could see the tears in Ty's eyes just as clearly as the one's he was crying. He wasn't even sure if Ty would be able to finish the song at the rate that they were both turning into crying toddlers.

 

Ain't nothing better  
We beat the odds together  
I'm glad we didn't listen  
Look at what we would be missing  
  
They said, "I bet they'll never make it."  
But just look at us holding on  
We're still together still going strong

 

Zane made his way to the very front of the stage, looking up at Ty who's voice was filling the cool evening air with it's sweetness. The fact that everyone around him was crying as well helped with his embarrassment some. He watched as Ty unhooked the mic from the stand and made his way down the stairs to him. They were soon face to face, one of Ty's hands holding the mic up to his mouth to sing, the other hand clasped in both of Zane's.

 

(you're still the one)  
You're still the one I run to  
The one that I belong to  
You're still the one I want for life  
(you're still the one)  
You're still the one that I love  
The only one I dream of  
You're still the one I kiss good night  
  
I'm so glad we made it  
Look how far we've come, my baby

 

The song ended as everyone burst into a round of applause. Zane looked towards the stage and saw Annie, Deuce, and Chester standing and giving their bows. Zane threw all three of them a wink through his tears and they all give him a smile and nod back. He turned to Ty and pulled him into his arms, giving him a rough kiss as the mic clattered to the ground and sent another sharp screech through the speakers. Zane didn't care, all he cared about in this moment was kissing Ty. Kissing him and never letting him go.

“That was the best gift I ever could have asked for.” he sighed with his forehead pressed against Ty's.

“I'm glad you liked it.” Ty smiled through his tears, “We put a lot of blood and sweat in it over the last few days.”

“Thank you, baby.” Zane smiled.

Suddenly Zane and Ty were being pulled into another hug, both of their bodies briefly tensed until they realized the perpetrator. Zane looked up at Nick and Kelly who, like everyone else, had tears in their eyes.

“That was,” Nick laughed, “the gayest thing I've ever seen. And it was beautiful.” He pulled them back in for another hug as all three of them because overwhelmed with laughter.

Kelly put his hand on Nick's shoulder. “What do I have to do to get you to do something like that for me?” he asked, elbowing Nick in the ribs with mock jealousy.

Zane saw his mother approach Ty from behind, prompting Ty to turn around to meet her when he saw the look in Zane's eyes.

“Ty,” she put her hand on his shoulder, “that was beautiful, thank you. Really, that is one of my favorite songs.”

Ty smiled and pulled her into a stiff hug. She laughed as he released her and smoothed down his shirt.

“Anyway,” she smiled, “you boys have a wonderful night. I've been up since before the sun and I'm terribly exhausted. I'm very pleased you've both had such a memorable time here this week.”

Beverly turned to walk about and Zane went to race after her, placing one last kiss on Ty's lips before trying to catch up.

“Wait.” he called out.

Beverly turned with a smile. He pulled his mother into the hug to thank her for everything.

“Hey,” he sighed, “who was that woman you were talking to earlier? Before Ty got on stage.”

“Just an old friend, darling. We can talk more tomorrow, there will be plenty of time. Go enjoy the rest of your night with your husband.”

Beverly gave him another hug and turned back towards the house. Zane watched her enter before turning around running back into Ty's arms for another kiss.

The party continued for a few more hours after that, the crowd slowly dwindled until it was left to just the people staying on the ranch. They sat up for hours into the night telling stories about each other, their various adventures, Mara and Earl offering compelling tales of a young Ty and Deuce, Harrison doing the same for Zane and Annie.

By the time the clock struck 1am everyone but Ty and Zane had gone to bed. They were making their way to the truck to head back to the guest house when Zane stopped.

“I just want to take one last look before it's all gone in the morning.”

Ty wrapped his arms around Zane from behind, pushing up on his toes to reach Zane's ear to whisper. “This was one of the best days of my life.”

Zane turned around and wrapped his hands around Ty, pulling him in close and placing a tender kiss on his lips.

“Happy anniversary, Mr. Garrett.” Zane smiled.

“Happy anniversary, Mr. Grady.” Ty laughed back.

“What do you say we go back to the house and start the first day of our second year together with some wild and crazy sex?” Zane asked with a devilish smile.

“You read my mind.” Ty winked and jumped into the passengers side of the truck as Zane cranked the engine and sped off down the dirt road to the guest house.

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 11

 

Zane winced as Ty slammed his body against the door, the doorknob digging into his back. They'd barely been able to keep their hands off of each other in the car on their way back to the guest house and Ty pounced on him the second they got in the door. Zane pushed himself forward to throw Ty off balance and to remove himself from the doorknob that was threatening to paralyze him. He broke off the kiss from Ty and ran his arm across the island in the middle of the kitchen, sending all its belongings flying in one swift motion.

"Want to..." Zane mumbled in between kisses, "fuck you...on...counter." 

Ty gasped in mock horror. "What on earth would ever give you the impression that a delicate flower like myself would ever allow myself to be demeaned like that?" 

"If you're a delicate flower then what does that make me?" Zane panted, his tongue training down Ty's throat. 

Ty had no witty response, he was lost in the heat of the moment. Zane took full advantage of this fact and stripped Ty of the rest of his clothes. He hoisted him up by his thighs and pushed him back on the long granite counter top, crawling on top of him and placing the pressure of his body on top of him, trapping him between two equally hard surfaces. 

Ty let out a hiss as the cold stone pressed against his warm body. Zane placed a trail of kisses down the front of Ty from his sternum to his hips, pushing his husbands legs apart and taking in the sight of his hard cock bobbing up and down, begging for attention. 

Zane let out a small moan before running his tongue up the length of the shaft, pausing for a moment to take in the sweet taste of precum dripping from the tip, before taking the entire thing down his throat. Ty let out a frantic cry as his cock was engulfed in Zane's mouth. 

"Zane..." Ty panted. 

Zane's only reply was a cascading hum that sent a vibrating chill through Ty's body. 

"I need you inside of me." Ty pleaded. 

Zane removed Ty's cock from his mouth and looked up to smile at him before opening one of the drawers below them and producing a bottle of lube. 

"You bastard!" Ty shouted with a laugh, "You've been planning this!" 

"Guilty as charged." He grinned, popping the top of the tube and releasing a small amount of liquid onto his hand, just enough to coat his fingers. He slid them inside Ty in once fluid motion. They had been going at it pretty intensely this entire week so it didn't require much prep before Ty was ready to go. 

Zane pulled his fingers out of Ty's ass and reached for the lube once again, coating his cock with the slick liquid, and slid inside Ty. Ty's only response was a sharp gasp, he reached down and grabbed for his cock to begin stroking it before Zane batted his hand away. 

"No sir." Zane laughed. 

Ty could only manage to give him a 'what the fuck dude?' look in between thrusts from Zane's cock. Zane smiled and looked down at his. 

"Need you nice and hard after I'm done with you so you can fuck me too.

The thought drove Ty absolutely wild. They didn't flip fuck nearly as often as Ty had liked. Mostly because they both got so into whatever role it was they had in any given encounter that they were never able to hold off from their own orgasm but tonight was their first time together for their second year of marriage and they had to do it right. 

Zane continued his barrage of thrusts into Ty's ass, picking up speed and power as he went along. Ty could only respond with whimpers and cries every time Zane pulled his cock out complete and shoved it back in, hitting Ty's prostate. 

"Think you can reach down and get me ready while I'm still fucking you?" Zane asked with the devil behind his eyes. 

It sent another shiver down Ty's spine. He knew Zane was ready to have his turn the second he finished with Ty. 

Ty stretched his arm out as far as he could after covering his fingers in lube and managed to slide his middle finger inside his husbands willing ass. Ty was as contorted as he'd ever been during sex but the sheer insanity of the position added even more pleasure. 

Zane was unable to hold off for much longer while he was being stimulated from both ends and let out a sharp cry as he releases deep inside Ty. Ty groaned as he felt himself full with warmth and his ass clenched around Zane's solid cock. 

Zane began to pull out, earning a deafening shout from Ty who was still overcome with euphoria. "My turn." He rasped. 

Ty pushed Zane off of him and sent him stumbling backwards after the length of the kitchen as Ty pushed himself off of the counter top. He could feel the remnants of Zane inside him running down his inner thigh as he stood and it made his throbbing cock all the harder. 

Zane took a step towards him and Ty's hand flew out, grabbing his wrists and in one animalistic motion he had Zane spun around in front of him, bent over the counter. Ty's cock was flush with his husbands ass now and it would only take a few teases until he was complete inside him. 

Zane hissed as he felt Ty's cock slide inside of him and his own spent cock bounced in anticipation. 

"Fuck baby, please." Zane moaned. 

Ty's only reply was to push Zane's face down on the stone counter top as his cock slide deeper into him. He deposited slightly and pulled Zane back to his face to kiss him one final time before pushing his head back to the stone, this time make sure he got Zane's cheek into the small pool of cum and lube that Ty had left on the counter. 

Ty gave a few good thirsts, Zane moving and rolling his hips back and fourth to meet his husbands moves, but he knew he wouldn't last long due to all the deprivation from earlier. 

"So close baby." Ty leaned down, moaning into Zane's ear. 

"Give it to me. Now. I want it all." Zane demanded. 

It was enough to send Ty over the edge, he pulled his cock completely out of Zane and with one thrust he was back inside, blowing every last bit of pent up energy inside his husband. He collapsed on Zane's back, still cumming inside of him as he laid there  breathless. When it was finally over he pulled out and took a few steps backwards before collapsing on the hardwood floor. 

"That was...wow." Ty laughed.

"We need to get remarried every year, if only for this." Zane smiled. 

"I can fuck you just as good without needing a ceremony before hand." Ty grinned, holding out his hand in an attempt to get Zane to help him up. 

Zane walked a few paces towards him and set out his own hand, grabbing Ty's and pulling him up into his arms, kissing him softly. 

"Lets go get cleaned up, huh?" Zane whispered into his ear. 

 

~*~ 

 

"Have you seen my phone?" Ty called from the bathroom. 

"Don't think so, maybe it's downstairs with the rest of our clothes in the kitchen?" Zane said, running his towel through his wet hair which had already started to curl up as it dried. 

"I don't remember feeling it in my pants." Ty said as he stuck his head out from the bathroom to face Zane. 

"I think you had more pressing things to feel in your pants." Zane laughed. 

"Pun penalty." Ty warned, sticking his index finger towards Zane before stepping out of the bathroom in a pair of cutoff sweatpants that showed off his legs and immaculate ass. 

"I don't see it anywhere in here." Zane sighed, "Where was the last place you remember seeing it?" 

"Um...I took it out when we were sitting at the table to sneak a creeper picture of you?" Ty admitted 

"You did what?" Zane laughed with compete lack of judgment, his phone was filled with creeper pictures of Ty and it was comforting to know Ty behaved in a similar way. 

"You looked so good in the suit and the sun was behind you at the best angle and you looked like a god so I just had to take a picture!" He ranted. 

Zane walked over and placed a kiss on his forehead. 

"That's so cute." He smiled. "Maybe you left it on the table?" 

"Shit" Ty muttered, pulling a shirt over his head. 

"Go get it," Zane said, pulling out his laptop, "I'll survive for a few minutes while you're gone. I need to place a few overseas orders for the store anyway." 

"Don't go anywhere!" Ty warned, turning to gallop down the stairs. 

"I wouldn't dream of it, doll." Zane smiled, watching him walk away, his perfect ass bouncing in his tight fitting sweats. 

 

~*~

 

Ty began his search for the lost phone. He was grateful that the cleanup crew was still preoccupied with the tent and hadn't started on the reception area yet. He caught a glimpse of a discarded pile of lavender and white orchids and made a small bouquet to take back To Zane as an apology for having to run out to find his lost phone yet again. It had slowly become a thing, Ty usually got so into big events that he'd set his wallet or phone down in some nondescript location and not realize it was gone until hours later. He's already gone through three phones this way and he would be dammed if he had to return to Zane and tell him he lost yet another one. At least the flowers would come in handy as an improvised melee weapon should Zane make good on his promise to spank Ty if he lost another phone. On second thought, losing his phone might not be the worst idea.  

Ty was on his hands and knees crawling around under every single table in the yard when he finally found his phone. It had somehow made its way from their main table all the way across the yard and under the furthest table in the corner. A glance at the small, sticky, child sized fingerprints confirmed his suspicions of Amelia grabbing his phone and making a run for it. Thank god he had a lock on it because she did not need to see some of the compromising photos of both of her uncles that were stored on the phones hard drive. He shoved his phone in his pocket with a shudder at the thought. 

Lifting himself from the ground he dusted off his hands and knees and made a beeline for the car to get back to Zane. He heard the yelling before he made it back to the car. Two women were really going at it somewhere nearby. One of the voices was strangely familiar to him but he he couldn't place it from far away. He walked around the back of the house, keeping a quiet and steady pace, until he found the source of the two voices. It was Beverly arguing with another woman. Ty had never seen her before but even from far away he could tell she was strikingly beautiful, even in her older years. She looked to be around the same age as Beverly, possibly a few years younger, her silvery blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and her high cheekbones sliced through the night air like a warm knife in butter. She had piercing ice blue eyes that looked like they could stop anything in their tracks with just a glance. She had to be scary if she was keeping up with Beverly. 

"Would you please lower your voice, you'll wake the entire house!" Beverly pleaded with a loud whisper. 

"God forbid anyone hear ANYTHING." The ice woman yelled. 

"This is absolutely unacceptable. When I invited you here tonight it was my way of apologizing for everything that happened all those years ago." Beverly spat. "I did not invite you into my home to be treated this way. Not by you. I will not stand for it." 

"You won't stand for it? It's strangely comforting to see you can still manage to be such a cold bitch even in your old age. At least there's still one thing that's real about you." The ice woman said, lacing every syllable of hers words with venom. 

"This was such a mistake. You need to leave. Now. I was such a fool." Beverly said, her voice cracking under the emotions. 

Ty stood for a moment. Their only avenue of retreat was by him. This was going to be awkward. Better make a preemptive move. 

"Hello?" Ty called out, "Is someone back there? I lost my phone..." 

"Tyler?" Beverly's head shot up, "is that you?" 

"Yes ma'am. Sorry, I realized I didn't have my phone at the house and came back to look for it. Have you seen it?" He asked, nonchalantly trying to hide the square shape in his pocket. 

Beverly straightened her back. "I have not. Perhaps you should keep a better eye on yours things. You never know when you will lose them." She huffed, walking past Ty and away from the ice woman. 

Ty stood frozen in place. The woman came toward him next. 

"Congratulations on your marriage. It was a wonderful." The ice woman placed his hand on his arm. 

"I found you phone." She pointed to his pocket and walked away leaving Ty to stand there, flushed and embarrassed. 

 

~*~ 

 

Zane was starting to get annoyed. No, not annoyed. Irritated. It had been almost an hour since Ty left to go try and find his phone. He'd been calling on and off for the better part of that hour with no answer. He was irritated for two reasons. One, because Ty kept fucking losing his phone. This would be something like the fourth one in under a year. Zane was going to buy stock in Apple at some point just because they gave the company so much money. The simpler option would be to just buy Ty a shitty phone but he insisted that there was no way he could ever go backwards technology wise. Not after discovering the cat emojis. The second reason he was annoyed was because he was horny again. He spent the other half of the last hour remembering what had happened in the kitchen below him, then in the shower next to him, and he wanted to get back in on the action. But by the time Ty got back from his phone hunt he would probably be too tired and annoyed for another round and Zane would go to bed sulky and wake up in a bad mood. And that's not how he wanted to start the first morning of their second year together. 

He let out a deep sigh at the same time he heard the front door click shut. 

"You better have your original phone with you and be in your underwear when I come down there because I'm a little bit irritated, Ty." Zane called from the bed. No answer floated back up to him. 

He got up from the bed and slipped on something more decent just in case it wasn't Ty who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He slipped a knife into the pocket of his pajama pants for good measure. 

Luckily he did find Ty at the bottom of the stairs. He wasn't in his underwear though. He was sweaty and covered in grass stains. He stood in front of Zane with a proud smile on his face holding up a dirt covered iPhone in one hand and a bouquet of orchids in the other. 

Zane's attitude deflated as he saw Ty standing there in all his boyish charm. 

"I'm blaming this all on Amelia." Ty smiled. 

"Sure, blame it on the kid." Zane rolled his eyes and took flowers from Ty, digging around for something to put them in. 

"Thank you for these, they're beautiful." He smiled. 

"Found em when they were talking down the tent, didn't want them to go to waste." Ty sighed. 

"What's on your mind?" Zane asked, he could see it in Ty's body language that he was tense about something. 

"Nothing major. Just saw something weird." Ty huffed. 

"Elaborate." Zane prodded. 

"It was your mom. She was fighting with some woman." Ty said. 

"My mom fighting with someone is weird? I call that a Tuesday night." Zane laughed. 

"It wasn't like...a bitchy fight. She seemed really upset. The woman she was fighting with was going toe to toe with her too. It was kinda scary. Especially since this woman looked like some Viking Ice Woman." Ty frowned. 

"Ice woman?" Zane asked, "Was she tall? Silvery blonde hair? Scary blue eyes?" 

"Yeah..." Ty looked confused. "You know her?" 

"No. I saw them talking at the reception. I was going up to introduce myself when you started singing." Zane frowned. 

"She looked like she was crying. There was just something off about the whole thing." Ty said. 

Zane frowned. He'd only seen his mother cry a handful of times in his life. The last time he remembered seeing it was when his Grandpa Carter died. And that was over two decades ago. He shook his head to clear the encroaching dark thoughts away. 

"I'll talk to her in the morning. Nothing was can do about it now." Zane smiled. 

Ty returned his look with a small grin. He grabbed Zane by the wrist and began to pull him back up stairs, leaving a trail of dirty, grass stained clothes behind him at the went. 

 

~*~ 

 

Ty woke first, jolted awake by a dream of sand and intense heat,  the next morning. Or afternoon as it was. He looked at the clock and found that it was 12pm. He and Zane didn't make it to sleep until around 3am the night before, too occupied with each others bodies for rest. Today was one of the rare mornings where they got to sleep in, Ty just wished the dreams would have subsided long enough to let him snooze for a little longer. He'd been having them with less frequency for the last year or so, but when they did show their ugly faces they were usually pretty intense, Ty figured they were just making up for their relative infrequency by ratcheting up the terror level by five hundred. 

He sighed and looked down at Zane who was still in the blissful word a sleep with a small smile on his face. He shuffled back down into the sheets and placed his head on Zane's chest, closing his eyes as Zane's arm unconsciously came down around him, resolving to sleep until at least Zane woke up. 

He woke again almost an hour later, this time it wasn't thanks to a dream but rather due to the small feline face that was pressed against his nose, meowing in hunger. 

Ty huffed, snaking his way out of Zane's embrace and throwing Cricket over his shoulder, softly whistling for Jiminy as well, and headed for the kitchen to feed the cats. He tried to be as quiet as possible but you can only do so much to muffle the sounds of an electric can opener and soon enough Zane was standing at the banister at the top of the stairs looking down at them. 

"Good afternoon!" Ty called from below him. 

"Did we really sleep until 1pm?" Zane asked in disbelief. 

"No." Ty deadpanned, "I changed all the clocks in the house to scare the shit out of you when you woke up, it's only 8am." He watched Zane from his position below him, the wheels in his head turning and trying to figure out if it was a joke or a true statement. It could be either, especially since Ty did it before a couple of months ago and almost gave Zane his second heart attack when he thought he was 3 hours late to open the book store. 

"That was a joke, by the way." Ty smiled. 

He placed the bowls on the ground and watched at the cats shambled towards them and went to work. He filled a small bowl of water and put it down between their bowls and turned back to head upstairs. 

"We should get dressed and head to the house." Zane sighed. 

As if on cue a knock came from the door. 

Ty bounced back down the stairs, oblivious to the fact that all he was wearing was a pair of boxer briefs, and opened the door to Clancy, who bust out into laughter upon seeing him. 

"Well, at least you're not dead." She laughed, "We were worried." 

"I'm all in once piece." Ty smiled, waving his hand across his almost naked body. 

"I just came to say bye before I left for my flight, not to be visually assaulted." She rolled her eyes. 

"You're heading out?" Zane asked from behind Ty now. 

"Yeah, Perrimore is back at the house packing up the last of his shit so I came to say bye. You missed the rest of your friends, the marines, they left earlier this morning." 

"Dammit!" Ty yelled, "I'm gonna kill them for leaving without saying bye!" 

"They said they didn't want to come interrupt your sexual marathon and that they'd call you later." Clancy shuddered. 

"Nice to know you don't have an qualms about that." Zane laughed at her. 

"What can I say, I'm a nosy bitch." 

"You said it, not me." Ty mumbled while turning around and Clancy brought a flat palm down on the back of his head earning a yelp from Ty. 

"Michelle, stop man handling my husband, that's my job." Zane grinned. 

"I hate both of you." Ty grumbled. 

"We're here for a few more days, can you do me a favor when you get back and check on the store? Just make sure we haven't been looted or anything. That 'gone fishing' sign on the door will only work for so long." Zane said while pulling her into a hug. 

"Got it! I'll call if I notice any precious copies of Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook missing." 

"How's she supposed to tell?" Ty called from the kitchen where he was cleaning up the cat food. 

"I have a key, duh." Clancy yelled back. 

"Of course she does." Ty whispered to himself as Zane said his goodbyes and the door closed. 

It was nice Zane had such a close friends but of course, out of everyone, it had to be Clancy who was his closest, the woman who made it her life's mission to make Ty miserable. Still, and he'd never admit it to anyone,  not even Zane, she was a pretty great friend. Anyone who will run head first, guns and bombs blazing, into a cartel compound with you is a pretty great friend. 

"Sorry the boys left without saying bye." Zane frowned from behind Ty. 

"They're big boys." Ty insisted, trying to mask his annoyance. "They can do whatever they want!" 

"Still annoying of them." Zane smiled. 

"You said it, not me." Ty frowned. 

"C'mon, doll." Zane said, grabbing Ty by the waist. "Lets go get dressed and head up to the main house for lunch." 

 

~*~ 

 

Zane noticed immediately when they pulled up to the house that his mothers car was gone and he frowned. Now he'd have to wait even longer to talk to her about the mystery woman she was arguing with. He shrugged it off and his stomach rumbled. 

"There better be some serious food in there for that." Ty laughed, poking at Zane's rumbling belly like a small child. 

"There's already something in this car I wouldn't mind eating." Zane said over his shoulder with a devilish grin. 

"Slow down there, baby. I'm still recovering from last night." Ty held up his hands in mock defense. 

They walked hand in hand into the kitchen of the house and found Mara and Livi scuttling around the kitchen, making themselves right at home and fixing lunch for everyone. 

"Welcome to the land of the living, boys." Mara called out as they entered. 

"We were wondering if we were going to see you again before we left tomorrow." Deuce laughed. 

"Unfortunately for me, you're stuck with us for another day." Ty said, walking by Deuce and flicking him in the ear. 

Zane loved watching their brotherly relationship play out any time they were around each other. 

Zane was started by Harrison coming around the corner. He looked on in complete amusement as he took in the sight of his father. Sadie was sitting on his shoulders, adding another three feet to his already impressive height, and Amelia was clinging to his arms like a monkey. Harrison casually swung Amelia around, laughing with excitement as she called for him to do it again and again. You could call Harrison Garrett a lot of things in his old age, but weak was not one of the,. Even after getting shot he was still in peak physical condition. 

"Amelia, get off that poor man! He is not your personal jungle gym!" Livi shouted front he kitchen. 

Amelia swung her body off of Harrison's arm and landed with a flourish, running over to her mother. Sadie got off the ride as well and took a seat at the table waiting for her food. 

"Thanks for the food, Mara." Harrison smiled. 

"Nonsense! We're all family now, no need to thank family for doing its job!" She said, scolding him with her spatula as the oven buzzed. 

Zane walked to his father for a welcoming hug. 

"Where's mom and Annie?" He asked as the hug broke. 

"They went out to the market about an hour or so ago. Should be back any time now." Harrison said, walking to Ty and pulling him into a hug as well. 

Zane smiled as a knock came from the door. 

"Did Annie lock the keys in the car again?" Zane laughed and walk to the door to answer it. 

He froze when he saw who stood there. The local sheriff was on the door step, standing there with his hat across his chest. Zane's own chest tightened like someone had just shot him while he was wearing a bulletproof vest. It was already getting hard for him to breathe. It was the same sight he saw when he opened the door the day he learned of Becky's accident. He took a step back, gasping for air, and ran into a side table, sending the porcelain vase on it flaying of the floor with a terrifying grash. He felt his knees give out under him as he fell to the floor, one of his hands falling straight into the sharp broken pile, blood pooling around his palm where he was punctured, but he couldn't feel anything other than pure terror. 

Ty and the rest of the Grady's came running around the corner. All Zane could see was a long black tunnel in front of him. He could barely make out Ty in front of his face, his hands on his shoulders, repeating his name and asking him what was wrong. His ears were ringing and the sound was going in and out. He looked up briefly to make eye contact with Ty, then glance behind him to see his father at the door talking to the officers. His world slowly came back to him just in time to hear the words he was dreading. 

"Mr. Garrett, I'm sorry to inform you," the officer spoke, "there's been an accident." 

Accident. The word rang in his ears like a gong being beaten over and over again.

Accident. Accident. Accident.

He looked back at Ty and felt a single tear drop from his eye before his vision went black and he was lost to the darkness. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been brought to my attention that i'm an idiot and have been writing this entire time thinking alston survived the events of crash & burn instead of perrimore. i've gone through and made all the proper corrections to everything so they should line up properly now.


	12. Chapter 12

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 12

 

"He's been out for a long time..." the first voice said, a soft, older female voice with a slight twang to it. 

"How's his hand?" The deeper voice, an older man probably, with the same twang asked. 

"It's got butterfly bandages on it. Might need stitches though. It was a pretty big chunk that he fell on." Came a younger voice, still with the comforting twang. 

"Should we try to wake him up?" This new voice was a female but she was missing the accent of the former three. 

"No. Let him rest. He's going to need it." Finally, a voice he knew. He thought. Maybe. Who is that? Why does it sound so familiar? Why do I feel safe? 

His eyes opened and the world sprung to life around him. Zane sat motionless on the couch, pupils blown and still as he could possibly be. The world around him was harsh and bright, he felt a stinging pain coming from somewhere below his head but he couldn't place it. 

"Where am I? Who are you?" Zane asked. 

The faces in front of him froze in horror. 

"Zane?" The familiar man, probably just a few years younger than him, asked quietly. 

Zane returned the question with a blink. 

"Do you know who I am?" The man asked. His voice was soft. He placed his hand on Zane's thigh and Zane felt an intimate warmth. Whoever he is, he's cute, Zane thought. 

"It's me. It's Ty." The man said. Ty. That name felt safe.

"Ty?" Zane's hoarse voice rasped. 

"Yeah baby, it's me." Ty smiled. It was comforting and familiar. 

"I'm sorry," Zane slurred, he could feel his head going light and his vision start to shake, "I don't think I know you. I'd like to though, you're really fucking hot." 

And with that Zane felt his head fall, absent of any of his motor functions, and returned to the comfort and quiet of the peaceful darkness. 

 

~*~ 

 

Ty stood and exited the room. He was pacing in the foyer now. 

"What the fuck was that?" He spat at Deuce. "You need to give me some kind of shrink explanation for that right the fuck now before I lose my mind." 

Ty could feel his body heating up, his pacing became more frantic, his fist clutched into a ball so tight his knuckles were white and his nails were digging into his palm and leaving tender superficial punctures. 

"Ty, calm down." Deuce walked over, putting a soothing hand on his shoulder. 

"This is totally normal response to an emotional trauma." Deuce sighed. 

"So he hasn't just gone crazy and forgotten who I am?" Ty looked at Deuce. 

"No." Deuce laughed. "The police officers at the door likely triggered something in his subconscious about the last time he was notified of a car accident...something similar to your flashbacks, actually." 

Ty put his head in his hands and sighed. 

"His brain is overloaded right now, it's trying to play catch up. I reckon the next time he wakes up he'll be himself again." He pulled Ty into a loving hug. 

"How the fuck am I going to tell him?" Ty whispered, barely audible. 

"Harrison is at the hospital. He's going to want answers when he wakes up. You have to do it, Beaumont." Mara sat down next to him, placing a hand on his thigh. "I know it's rough but if there's anyone he needs to hear it from, it's you." 

"Have you hard anything else from Harrison?" Ty asked. 

"Not since your dad called an hour ago right when they got to the hospital. Said the poor man is an absolute wreck." Mara sighed. 

"Deuce, Ty!" Livi called from the living room. "I think he's waking up again." 

 

~*~ 

 

Zane blinked his eyes rapidly, he was flat on his back and looking up at the ceiling. He lay there for a few seconds before sitting up and looking around the room. The first face he saw was Ty's, sitting right in front of him on the coffee table. Livi and Deuce were sitting on either side of him and Mara in the fluffy chair in the corner. 

"Welcome back, handsome." Ty smiled. 

Zane could feel the confusion form all over his face. 

"Where did I go?" He asked, with a sheepish smile. 

"You passed out, baby. Do you remember anything?" Ty asked, putting his hand on his knee. 

"I remember...being in the kitchen. Then someone knocked at the door and...the officers. Oh my god." Zane felt his breath start to get thin again. 

"Hey," Deuce started, "look at me. Breathe slowly." 

Zane stopped for a moment to try and catch his breath. 

"I saw them and it sent me back to when Becky died. It reminded me all the fear I had when Ty was gone that I'd open the door and men in uniform would tell me he was dead. It all mixed together and I felt like I was dying." Zane felt up his hand and looked at it, blood had slowly started to seep through the bandage. 

He looked back up at Ty and could see the pain on his face. 

"I'm sorry I worried you." Zane let out a pain sighed. 

"Don't ever be sorry." Ty said, reaching out and taking Zane's good hand. 

"Where's dad?" Zane snapped back into reality. 

"He's at the hospital." Ty offered. 

"The hospital...who else is there." Zane asked cautiously. 

"He's there with Annie, baby. She's in surgery." Ty said slowly. 

"Annie...oh my god...what happened. Is she OK?" Zane was growing frantic again and he felt Deuce's hand on his back trying to get him to breathe. 

"The doctors say she's going to be fine. The impact of the crash shattered the bone in her arm and she's in the operating room with the best orthopedic surgeon in Texas." Ty smiled at him, he flicked his eyes towards Livi, and she got up to switch places with Ty. 

"What the fuck happened?" Zane asked. 

"There was a car accident. We don't know much other than that. Annie was in the passengers seat." Ty said, placing his arm around Zane. 

Zane froze. 

"Passengers seat?" He asked, "Who was driving? 

Ty turned his body to face Zane and put both of his arms on his shoulder. 

"Baby, I need you to look at me OK?" Ty began. 

Zane nodded and turned his body to face Ty. 

"Your mom...she was driving. We won't know what happened until Annie comes out of surgery but..." Ty trailed off. 

"Is she in surgery too? Mother, I mean. Why can't we just ask her?" Zane said, a feeling a fear creeping over him. 

"Zane...I'm sorry...she didn't make it. Annie was the only one who survived the crash." Ty was silent as he finished. 

Zane felt frozen. He could hear the world around him but nothing else registered. 

"What?" He asked silently. 

There was no time for anyone to reply before Zane broke down into tears. It was the kind of primal, guttural sobbing that only came out when you were on the brink of disaster. 

Ty didn't say a single word. There was nothing he could say. All he could do was pull Zane into his arms and hails him as tight as he would allow and kiss the top of his head, trying to let him know that he was there and that they would get through this together. 

 

~*~

  
  


Ty sat in the backseat of the SUV with Zane's head on his lap. Deuce was driving, following the directions to the hospital that Mara was reading him from the passengers seat. Zane had all but gone despondent. He hadn't said more than a few words in between the time that Ty had told him about the accident and now. Ty felt completely powerless, Zane was facing his worst nightmare and there was nothing Ty could do to fix it. The look on Zane's face was haunting, there was something missing behind his eyes.Ty did all he could by stroking his hair and offering him as many kisses as Zane would allow.

“Sadie...” Zane finally spoke, coming out of his haze for a few seconds.

“She's back at the house with Livi and Amelia.” Ty whispered.

“Did anyone tell her about Annie?” Zane frowned.

“No. Not yet. Not until we know everything.” Ty said, running his hand through Zane's hair.

The rest of the ride to the hospital was silent save for Mara telling Deuce where to turn. When they finally reached the entrance they found Harrison waiting for them. Ty had never seen the man look so frazzled, his eyes were red and his hair stood every which way. Earl was sitting next to him with a cup of coffee in his hand and his eyes on the ground.

“Zane...we're here. Your dad is outside.” Ty spoke softly.

Zane sat up, blinking his eyes to focus on his father. Harrison slowly opened the door and Ty stepped out offering his hand to Zane. Zane silently took it and stepped down out of the raised SUV and pulled his father into a hug.

“How's Annie?” he asked quietly.

“She just came out of surgery, her arm was pretty torn up but they had the best doc in the state in there working on her. He's an old friend and happened to be in town, thankfully. She's out now, they said she'll probably be under for a few more hours. She's going to be in a lot of pain when she comes around.” Harrison sighed.

“Has anyone called Mark?” Zane asked.

“I called the facility but they said he was on a two day hike into the woods for some kind of therapy, they sent someone out with a message but there's no telling when he'll get it. I don't know if he even should get it...” Harrison trailed off.

Ty walked over to the two men and put his arm on Harrison's shoulder.

“Thank you for being here, son.” Harrison smiled at Ty.

Ty pulled him into a hug before leaving he and Zane together to talk. He walked over to Earl and sat down next to his father, putting his arm around his shoulder.

“How's he been?” Ty asked angling his head to indicate he was talking about Harrison.

“Quiet. Worried sick about Annie. Didn't do much when they told him about Beverly, all he cared about was if Annie was OK.” Earl sighed, “Zane?”

“He's been out of it ever since he woke up. Deuce said he had some kind of mini breakdown and lost his memory for a few minutes the first time he woke up. He didn't know who any of us where before he passed out again. He's been pretty quiet since waking up the second time.” Ty let out a long sigh as Earl pulled him into a hug.

“I don't know what to do, dad. This is his worst nightmare happening all over again and there's nothing I can do to make it better.”

“Just be there for him, son. All you can do.”

He looked up as he heard Zane's voice getting louder.

“When are the police getting here?” Zane was almost yelling. Harrison had his hands on his shoulders to try and calm him down but nothing was working.

“I need to go to the scene, supervise them, make sure they're not destroying evidence. I don't trust the locals to take care of this properly. I'm owed a few favors in the field office here, I can call them in, get someone who knows what they're doing on it.” Zane was frantically rambling at this point, pacing back and fourth and running his hands through his messy curls.

Ty walked over and reached for Zane's hand, trying to tether him to one place so he would stop pacing and calm down. He jerked away from Ty and kept going.

“This wasn't an accident, Ty.” Zane was growing even more frantic.

“Zane...” Ty was calm, trying to handle this the best he could. He looked over his shoulder to Deuce who offered him a nod, letting him know he was doing the right thing.

“Zane...baby...calm down. Come here.” he put his hand on Zane's shoulder and pulled him into a hug.

“This wasn't an accident, Ty. I can feel it. She wouldn't just lose control of the car, not when Annie was with her.” Zane broke down into a sobbing mess, his legs gave out from under him and he fell to the ground, taking Ty with him in his arms. Ty did nothing but sit here, his arms wrapped around Zane, as his husband sobbed on the ground while clutching desperately at him.

“They're doing all they can, baby. You know just as well as I do that they look into everything with things like this. Especially with people like your family. We can talk to them later, I promise. Right now we should go see Annie though. OK?” Ty pulled him in even tighter.

Zane sat there for a long minute, sniffling in Ty's arms, until he quieted and looked up at him. “OK. Annie.” he replied, letting out a small breath as Ty helped him up and wiped the tears off of his face with his hands before pulling him into a soft kiss.

“I'm here.” he offered, placing his hand on Zane's lower back and walking into the surgical recovery wing with him.

  
  


~*~

  
  


Zane's breath caught as he walked into Annie's recovery room. Her arm was in a splint suspended from the ceiling, held in place by four long metal rods. Aside from that she looked peaceful. He wished more than anything that she was awake so he could ask her what happened but after seeing her he was glad she was asleep, he knew from experience that waking up with that kind of injury was incredibly painful so if Annie could get a few more hours of painless sleep then he wouldn't deprive her of that.

Zane turned to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror, he recoiled at what he saw. Even though he'd only been awake for about seven hours he looked like he'd been up three times longer than that with no sleep. His hair was messy and disheveled, his eyes bloodshot and swollen, his slightly crooked nose still leaking from all the sobbing he'd done earlier. He looked like an absolute travesty. He ran the water from the sink, turning it to it's coldest setting, and splashed some on his face. He winced first at the icy cold water hitting his warm skin but after a few seconds it felt comforting.

Zane looked up as he hard the door open behind him, he lifted his eyes to the mirror and found Ty's reflection looking back at him with a soft smile on his face and a steaming drink in his hand.

“Brought you coffee.” he smiled, holding it out to Zane.

Zane grabbed it, letting his fingers linger on his husbands hand for a few extra seconds before putting the cup to his lips and taking a long sip. Just how he liked it, two cream and not a lot of sugar. He gave Ty a fleeting smile.

Ty took a step forward and stopped, Zane was watching him and he could tell he was weighing the options in his head, trying to tell if Zane wanted him to come any closer to comfort him. Zane sighed, is this what he looked like when Ty was upset and he was trying to figure out his next move? Zane put the coffee on the corner of the sink and took a step towards Ty, opening his arms and allowing him to move closer. He wanted to feel his husbands arms around him. No, he needed to feel them. It was the only thing that felt real. It was his constant. They stood there for what seemed like hours, silently intertwined, until a knock at the door interrupted them. The door opened slowly and Harrison stuck his head in.

“Z,” he said softly, “Annie's awake. The police just got here too. She's asking for you and Ty to be in there when they talk to her.”

Zane slowly opened his eyes and looked up from behind Ty. His eye's met his fathers and gave him a silent nod.

It was time to find out what the hell happened. 

 


	13. Chapter 13

 

 

Chapter 13

 

No sooner than the second she opened her eyes Annie had a sharp pain running through her body. She looked to her arm and found it hanging in a contraption and bolted together with four long metal rods. A wave a panic fell over her. Her head felt like jello and she could swear she felt her brain move every time she turned her head. 

"Annie?" A soft voice called to her from her bedside. 

She looked over to find her father sitting next to her. 

"Daddy?" Her voice rasped. 

"I'm here sweetie." Harrison smiled, placing a kiss on her forehead. 

She looked around the room as far as her pained neck would let her and saw two other figures near the doorway. It took her eyes a second to adjust before she could make out who they were. 

"Z? Ty?" She asked, unsure if she was seeing them correctly. 

"Hey kiddo." Zane smiled. 

"You look like hell." Ty laughed. 

Annie tried to laugh in reply but cringed as the act made a jolt of pain shoot through her body. 

"Sadie?" She asked, more alert. 

"She's back at the Ranch with Livi and Amelia. We didn't want to worry her until we knew more." Zane placed a hand on her leg trying to comfort her. 

"Mark?"

"I tried to get in touch with him but the place is doing some kind of wilderness outing or something. They're trying to get word to the group but no one could give me a definite answer." 

"It's probably better, the last thing he needs is the stress of this." 

Annie closed her eyes, if Mark was bad before then this would send him completely off the rails. She said a silent prayer that the word didn't make it to him until he got out. 

"Mrs. Masterson," a voice from the back of the room that she didn't recognize started, "we can come back later if you'd like but if you're up for talking now it would be a great help if you could tell us what you remembered." 

Annie looked between the crowd of people and found the source of the voice, an officer. 

"It's...all really hazy. I remember mom driving and we took that sharp corner and...oh god...she tried to break and nothing happened. She kept pressing her foot on it but the car just kept going and picking up speed as it went down the hill. We both started to panic and...we saw the cars in front of us and mom tried to get the car off of the road so we wouldn't crash into them and...we hit a hole or something and then the car was...flying. I don't remember the impact...I just...woke up and I was on my side. My arm was in so much pain I couldn't focus. I looked for mom and...oh my god no...she was there...the...it was in her chest and she couldn't breathe...she's gone...I saw her...oh my god mom is gone." 

Annie could feel her body begin to shake uncontrollably, her heart rate began to rise and the machines around her started beeping warning bells. The nurses rushed in, clearing out the room and telling them that she needed to rest if she was going to make a quick recovery. 

Tears were falling from her face as she sat in the room alone, she reached for the button that would give her access to the pain medicine and held it down, it wasn't long after that she felt herself drift off to sleep. 

 

~*~

 

Three days later Ty sat in the waiting room of the hospital again, this time waiting for Annie to be discharged. It had been a long three days. The funeral planning was under way, Beverly was to be buried at the family plot in the cemetery in two days time. The wake being planned afterwards at the ranch was a stark contrast to the wedding that was held there almost a week prior. It made Ty too upset any time he thought about the juxtaposition. He shook his head trying to clear his mind and his eyes settled on Zane. 

The last few days had been extremely hard for him and he looked like a shell of himself. He was barely getting any sleep, he woke up every few hours in a fit of scream and sweat, dreaming about all the members of his family dying in various horrific ways. It reminded Ty of the early years of their relationship when Zane could only sleep soundly next to him. But this time even Ty being in the bed curled against him did nothing to ease his pain. It was heartbreaking to see Zane like this, not being able to do anything other than let him know he was there for him. 

Their eyes caught each other and Ty flashed Zane one of his trademark grins, full teeth, and as cheesy as possible. He saw a slight smile creep up on his husbands face before he began to laugh. At least that helped for a second. 

They had already changed their original plan to head back which was supposed to be yesterday, they were in Texas until at least Monday now. Ty was having a slight panic attack at the bookstore being left under Clancy's eye for so long and was growing more worried by the day at just how much personal time off the CIA would allow them but they hadn't heard any complaints yet so Ty figured they were in the clear. That or the CIA was reading a cleaner team to come take them out any minute now. Being in Texas for so long had made Ty jumpy. 

Ty was stirred from his thoughts of CIA ninjas by Zane getting out of his chair. Annie was being wheeled down the hallway with her arm in a gigantic pink cast. She looked good, all things considered. The cuts on her face were healing nicely, only one of them even needed stitches. She was incredibly lucky to have escaped such an accident with only a shattered arm. 

Zane hadn't seen Annie since the first time she woke up, after her recollection of the accident he became obsessed with it. Annie saying the breaks didn't work was the only piece of evidence he'd needed to convince himself of foul play. He called the detectives every day asking if they'd made any headway on the investigation of the vehicle and every day he was met with the same response. They don't discuss ongoing investigations. 

Ty got up as they rolled Annie towards them, smiling at her first and then to

Zane. He lit up when he saw Annie. Ty spent every second of the last few days thankful that Annie made it though the crash, he doubted that Zane every could have recovered from losing both his mother and sister in the same accident. 

"Ready to blow this joint?" Zane asked her, leaning down to place a kiss on the crown of her head. 

"Did someone say joint?" Annie laughed, "I would not be opposed at the moment." 

Ty felt a cackle escape his body and covered his mouth. The image of Annie, high, in a wheelchair and giant cast was almost too hilarious to think about. 

"I might have a friend who can smuggle a thing or two from an evidence locker." Zane winked a tired eye at his sister and placed his hand on her shoulder. 

"Let's get you loaded up, there's a little girl at the house who's going crazy without you." Ty smiled. 

Sadie hadn't been to see Annie in the hospital, they all agreed that seeing her mother hooked up to machines and with metal bars sticking out of her arms would do more hard than good. 

They made their way to the front of the hospital and waited for their car to be brought around by the valet. 

"So," Annie sighed, "what's the plan? For the funeral." 

"Straight to the point." Zane spoke first. "The funeral is in two days, then the reading of moms will is the day after." 

"Oh god," Annie groaned, "I don't think I'm ready for that." 

"None of us are." Zane frowned. 

"You look terrible, Z. Worse than I do, and that's saying something." 

Zane was silent for a moment. 

"Haven't been sleeping. Every time I do I have nightmares about you dying. And mom. And Ty. It's miserable. And I know I'm making Ty miserable with it." Zane looked towards him and gave him a sad smile. 

"Shut up. I don't want to hear stuff like that." Ty scolded him. "I'm not miserable. Worried, yes. But miserable? No way in hell." 

Annie laughed.

"You two sure are something else." 

Their SUV pulled up to the curb, Ty and Zane loaded Annie into the back set and Zane crawled in to sit next to her leaving Ty to drive them home. 

Most of the ride was silent until they were a few miles from home. 

"Zane?" Annie's voice broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"I need to tell you something...something mom asked me to tell you." 

Ty's eyes flicked to the rear view mirror and he could see Zane tense as the words left her mouth. 

"Ok." Zane said plainly.

"When she realized what was happening she told me to tell you...she was sorry. For everything. She told me to tell both of you. You and Ty."

"I..." Zane couldn't finish his thought. 

"She said she was so wrong in how she reacted and she did it out of fear. She didn't want to lose you and she did all that she knew how, which was to try to control things through money. She said that a day hadn't gone by since then that she didn't regret it." 

"I...don't know what to say." Zane admitted. 

"You don't have to say anything. She just wanted you to know. She needed you to." Annie said with tears starting to form in her eyes. 

"Thank you for telling me." Zane tried to give off a small smile but he was slowly becoming lost to tears as well. 

Ty reached back and put his hand on Zane's knee, giving it a squeeze. 

Annie and Zane spent the rest of the ride to the ranch each looking out of their respective windows, silent, thinking about their mother. 

 

~*~ 

 

The next day passed as slow at the first two. The ranch seemed to have come to a stand still. The Grady's left early in the morning, unable to put off flights any longer, Earl and Deuce had both put off returning to work as long as they could but it simply wasn't a possibility any longer. Ty drove them to the airport which left Zane with serious alone time and nothing else to occupy his mind other than his thoughts about the accident. 

No matter which way he looked at it, something didn't add up. Annie's recollection was shaky at best but she was so adamant about the breaks not working when their mother pushed them that all his years of training were setting off alarm bells. The local police were no help either. If this was foul play he doubted their ability to even find it. He had finally broken them down and was allowed to call in a favor to have one of his friends from the San Antonio field office come in, a trained forensic investigator who specialized in car crashes, to look at the car. He'd arrived a few hours ago and was in the process of investigating with a promise to call Zane when he was done. 

So all Zane could do was sit and wait. He sat in the living room of the main house, throwing a ball back and fourth with Sadie while Annie was in the shower attempting to maneuver around with a giant black trash bag taped over her cast. 

The mood in the house could only be described as overcast. Everyone was somber, Harrison barely spoke. Annie was in so much pain most of the time she couldn't even speak. Sadie was so confused and didn't know what she could do to even help anyone. Zane empathized with her.  

Zane was shaken from his thoughts as his cellphone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and looked at it, his eyes wide. It was the forensic investigator. 

"Hello?" He answered quickly. 

The voice on the other end of the line spoke quickly and didn't mince any words. 

"OK. If you're positive...no...I trust you...Thank you." 

Zane frowned and hung up the phone, unable to understand if he just got the answer he wanted or the answer he didn't. 

 

~*~ 

 

When Ty got back to the guest house he found Zane sitting alone in the living room. He went to the main house first after dropping his family off at the airport only to be told that Zane left Annie in the care of Harrison after he got a phone call. He didn't tell them who or what it was, only that he looked upset. 

"Zane?" Ty called from the doorway. 

"In here." Zane's voice came out in a horse rasp. 

"Are you OK, baby. Do you want to be alone?" Ty asked cautiously. 

"No. Alone is the last thing I want to be right now." He said, throwing his head back on the couch and sighing. 

Ty smiled and walked over to the couch to sit next to him. He reclined back and pulled Zane's into his chest and began to try and sooth him by running his fingers through his hair. 

They were silent for a moment until Ty spoke up. 

"You dad said you got a phone call?" 

Zane let out a defeated hiss. "It was Kyle, the forensic investigator I told you about. He finished the investigation earlier this afternoon." 

"That didn't take long." Ty said, puzzled as to how something that major could have been completed in only a few hours. 

"He said he didn't need that long. He took one look at the brake system and saw what happened." 

Ty felt his breath catch and he had to remind himself to breath. 

"The brakes were old. She kept putting off having them replaced. They were so worn down that they were basically useless when she came around the bend and down the hill."

Ty tightened his arms around Zane, pulling him as close to his chest as he could. 

"I...I wanted so badly for it to be this dark mystery...some giant conspiracy so I had someone to fight, to get revenge from. But it's just stupid fucking human error and laziness. What the fuck do I do with that?" Zane's body began to shake and Ty could feel the tears hitting his arm. He pulled Zane in even closer and placed a kiss on the top of his head. 

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry you're hurting baby. I wish there was something I could do." Ty could feel the tears form in his eyes. "I wish there was someone we could go out and shoot or stab for this whole thing but sometimes terrible things just happen for no reason.  We've been living our life for the last six some years as one giant conspiracy. I don't think for one second it was out of the realm of possibility that you could think something like that was happening here. But...it's just a fucked up random thing. I'm so sorry, baby." 

"She's gone Ty." Zane's voice was shaking so much he was almost unintelligible. "We were just getting to know each other again. She did all this for us and now she's just gone. I didn't even get to say goodbye." 

"I know Zane. I'm so sorry." 

Zane craned his head up to look at Ty. The look on his face almost broke Ty's heart. Zane had always been the strong one. Even in the roughest of times he remained an emotional rock. But now there was so much pain and sadness in his face, it was as if years of repressed memories were all flowing out of him at once. 

"Will you lay with me in bed?" His voice was quiet and soft. 

"Of course baby. Whatever you want." Ty smiled. 

They made their way up stairs and Zane crawled into bed. The sun was still up so Ty pulled the shades closed on the giant window before sliding under the covers and settling in next to Zane. Zane immediate tangled himself in Ty's limbs, desperate for comfort and to feel his body against his husbands. It was the only thing that made sense to him right now and he wasn't going to let it go for anything. 

They laid there for what seemed like hours, Ty running his hand up and down Zane's scarred back. Zane letting years worth of tears fall from his face and onto Ty's belly. Ty held him close and rocked him, humming a soothing tune that eventually turned into a song and before long the combination of Ty's voice and his hands running up and down Zane's back had lulled him to sleep and Ty closed his eyes to pray that Zane was able to finally sleep through the night. 

 

~*~ 

 

As it turned out, Zane was able to sleep through the night. The combination of crying his eyes out and Ty rocking and singing to him let Zane peacefully slumber for the first time in days. When he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Ty's face smiling at him. 

"Morning sleepyhead." Ty smiled, kissing him on the nose. 

"How long was I out?" He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. 

"About 9 hours." Ty laughed. 

"How did I manage that long?" Zane let out a breath that hit Ty in the face. 

"You had me in a death grip for about 6 of those hours so I stayed up rubbing your back and singing to you. Every time I tried to stop you whined and tried to wake back up. It was adorable actually." 

Zane blinked. Was Ty telling him that he had stayed up for six hours, pinned under Zane, singing to him just so he could get some sleep? The same Ty who could barely sit still for six minutes before his entire body started to tremble with energy? 

"You didn't have to do that." Zane rasped, he could feel the tears forming again and tried to fight them off. 

"Yes I did." Ty smiled. "That's what married people do. Sacrifices baby." 

"Thank you." Zane whispered.

"You're welcome." Ty placed another kiss on his lips, soft and gentle. 

"I love you so much. I don't know what I'd do without you." Zane frowned. 

"No frowning. You'll never have to find out." Ty rested his hand on Zane's cheek. 

"Stay here and rest a little while longer, I'll go cook breakfast. We have a few hours before we have to start getting ready." 

Getting ready for the funeral. Zane hadn't forgotten that it was today. He tried to push it out of his mind all he could but it was still there haunting him. At least he'd have Ty by his side.

  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when i first came up with the idea for this story i had a different outcome in mind, i began writing with some of the story plotted out that ended in beverlys death not being an accident and it actually being intentional. as i went on i grew less and less satisfied with this idea and it began to change to a much simpler story about loss and less of the traditional cut & run mystery. the description for the story on here is caught somewhere between these two idea and therefor the last line of it doesn't truly fall into place with what ended up happening in this chapter, there's not much i can do about it now but i just wanted to mention it before any kind of bigger disconnect happened


	14. Chapter 14

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 14

 

A crisp breeze blew through the cemetery, the leaves on the ground blowing along with it. It was a beautiful place, in a chilling way. It reminded Ty of the cemetery from New York, the one where Henninger dumped one of the bodies. Ty could still remember that place and it's haunting elegance, this place had the same feeling to it.

Ty sat next to Zane, their hands never parting. The funeral itself was a rather short event, no one got up to speak any fond words or tell stories, it was just a somber formality. There were easily over 100 people in attendance and all the seats were taken meaning people were standing anywhere they could just to be included. It was all so morbid, heaven knows that Beverly was not the nicest of women and Ty secretly had to wonder how many people were here because they were sad she was gone and how many people were here because they were glad.

Ty shook the thought from his head guiltily when Zane rested his head on his shoulder.

“How are you holding up?” Ty whispered into his husbands ear.

“I don't know.” was Zane's only reply.

The sleep from the night before had done little to sooth Zane other than refresh his appearance, Ty could tell the signs of him going through the motions, desperate to get out of the graveyard.

“We can go you know? We don't have to stay and talk to people.” Ty smiled at him.

“That would look terrible, Ty.” Zane sighed.

“So? Who cares how it looks? All I care about is how you feel. Your dad and Annie will understand.” Ty placed his lips on Zane's head.

“Are you sure?” Zane hesitated.

“Positive.”

“OK, go get the car. I'll talk to dad and Annie.”

Ty left to get find the car and it was then when he saw the ice woman from the night of the wedding. He hesitated but his curiosity got the better of him and he walked towards her.

“We met the night of the wedding, didn't we?” He asked.

“I suppose if you can eavesdropping 'meeting' then yes we did.” She glared at him.

“Clam down lady, I wasn't the one yelling at my mother-in-law behind her house.” Ty spat.

She rolled her eyes and it ignited a protective instinct within Ty. Beverly barely tolerated him but to see this woman who he last saw fighting with her being this blatantly disrespectful at her funeral was just crossing an unspoken boundary and it didn't sit well with him.

“You've got a lot of nerve, you know that?” Ty glared at her.

“And you have no idea what you're even upset about, from what I've heard she didn't even like you.” the ice woman spat back.

Ty closed his eyes, this was becoming dangerously close to a scene and for Zane's sake that was the last thing he wanted.

“Can I help you?” Zane's voice came from behind Ty as he walked up and placed his hand on Ty's shoulder. “I don't think we've had the pleasure of being formally introduced, I'm Zane Garrett, and I see you've already met my husband, Ty. You are?” Zane offered the most condescending smile he could and held out his free hand.

The woman stared at both of them for a minute before deciding to take Zane's hand.

“My name is Alice. Alice Abernathy.” She said, dropping Zane's hand and looking at them both.

“Abernathy?” Zane asked, “As in Abernathy's Angels?”

“The one and only.” The woman smiled, “Now if you'll excuse me it seems I've overstayed my welcome.” She flicked her head at Ty who's entire body seemed to be vibrating out of frustration. “I'm sure we'll be seeing each other around again.” She called as she turned and walked away.

“I really, really don't fucking like her.” Ty sighed, taking Zane's hand in his own and walking towards the car.

 

~*~

 

Zane sat at the counter of the guest house, his head flat on the cold stone, while Ty made lunch. He wasn't particularly hungry but he hadn't eaten anything since lunch the day before and Ty insisted that he eat something or else he would without himself from him for the foreseeable future. Sex was the last thing on Zane's mind at the moment but with Ty you never know how long the “foreseeable future” will last and when he did want to get naked with his husband he wanted it to be on his terms.

“Eat.” Ty said, sliding the plate towards him,

“What even is this?” Zane laughed.

“It's a wrap.” Ty looked at him and blinked.

Ty's definition of a wrap was apparently lettuce, ranch dressing, cheese, and a whole chicken breast thrown together on top of a tortilla. Zane couldn't help but laugh, it was such an insane meal.

“Why are you laughing?” Ty said, completely offended.

“You didn't even wrap the wrap!” Zane laughed, choking on his own words.

“I...couldn't figure out how to get it to stay wrapped.” Ty sighed, looking down at the floor, his cheeks turning red.

Zane took a few more seconds to compose himself before he got up and took both of their plates.

“I'll fix it, doll.” Zane smiled and went to work salvaging Ty's adorable attempt at a healthy meal.

He got out a bowl and decided the best way to recover this would be turning it into a salad. He threw the lettuce into the bowl, cut up the two chicken breasts, tossed the salad with ranch, threw in some extra cheese and cut the tortillas from the previous wrap into small strips. He smiled looking down at the counter and it finally occurred to him that Ty probably intentionally made a terrible meal just so Zane would have to fix it and occupy himself with something other than his brain. It made him smile and fall that much more in love with his husband.

“Open.” Zane said, taking a scoop of salad with his fork and pointing to Ty.

“You're not going to feed me.” Ty deadpanned.

“Open.” Zane smiled, staring into Ty's eyes.

“Fine.” Ty relented and opened his mouth, taking a bite of the salad.

“How on earth did you turn my wrap into that?” Ty laughed.

“Hard work and a lot of determination.” Zane smiled.

They spent the rest of the day as relaxed as they possible could. Zane had finally gotten Ty to agree to watch an episode of his latest Netflix obsession, Rosemary & Thyme. Zane was absently aware of the fact that he could probably convince Ty to do anything right now in an attempt to distract him from the wake they weren't attending at the main house but he didn't care, all he could focus on was the TV and Ty.

“So...” Ty asked, confused, “they're gardeners.”

“Yes.” Zane smiled.

“And they solve murders?” Ty's face was twisted into a look of confusion and amusement.

“Yes.”

“And they don't have guns?”

“No.”

“How do they solve murders without guns?”

“You'll just have to watch and find out.”

Five hours had passed before they finally went upstairs and crawled into bed. Ty had becoming instantly obsessed with the crime solving duo from the first episode and was now insisting they they take up gardening in an attempt to find more murders for them to solve.

“I'm glad we spent the rest of the day like this.” Zane smiled.

“Me too. I'm glad you got to relax some.” Ty was sitting on the bed next to Zane, running his hand up and down his back.

“Especially after that mess at the funeral with Alice Abernathy.” Zane sighed.

“What was that whole Abernathy's Angels thing?” Ty cautiously asked.

“It's one of the main charities my mom supported, every year she would have an event to raise money for them.” Zane rolled onto his back and was staring face up at the ceiling, Ty now running his hands absentmindedly up and down Zane's stomach.

“They didn't seem to like each other very much, why would she go through all that trouble every year?” Ty let out a breath.

“I don't know and it's going to eat me alive.” Zane frowned and looked back to Ty.

“Next time we see her we can ask her.” Ty smiled.

“I can't stay here any longer after tomorrow, we're getting out of here after the will, I doubt we'll see her.” Zane sighed.

“If she runs a charity that big she can't be that hard to track down, we can always try to find her when we get home, she seems like she'd be nicer over the phone. Less scary at least.” Ty laughed, offering Zane a quick smile.

“I guess.” Zane huffed and rolled over on his side. Ty took it as an invitation and settled in next to Zane, wrapping his arms around him and pressing his chest to Zane's back, placing a kiss on the nape of his neck and reaching over to turn off the bedside lamp.

“Ty?” Zane asked quietly.

“Yeah?” Ty let out a breath that hit the back of Zane's neck and sent a shiver through his body.

“Will you sing to me until I fall asleep?” Zane whispered, fully aware at how pathetic he sounded.

“Of course.” Ty smiled and kissed him on the top of his head and began to sing softly, holding Zane close to him, running his fingers up and down the slide of Zane's arm until he felt him drift off to sleep.

 

~*~

 

Ty had his head in his hands as he sat and waited for the lawyer to finish talking. They had been in this meeting for nearly three hours as the executor detailed, painstakingly, every small bit of Beverley's will. He could tell everyone was getting restless. Ty hadn't even expected to be included in the event but Beverly specifically requested that when the time came her children were to be there with their spouses during the reading of the will so there he sat, the only notable missing person was Mark who Annie had insisted stay in rehab even after he learned what happened.

Ty listened as the man detailed how much of her family money would go to each charity, Abernathy's Angels unsurprisingly getting the most out of everyone, how much money was to be set aside for Zane and Annie, the transfer of all ownership of the ranch to Harrison, and trusts set up for Sadie's college education.

“We have two more things to take care of,” the lawyer said, holding up a plain white envelope, “this letter was entered in only a few years ago in August of 2010.”

Ty sat up, focused for the first time of the entire meeting. August of 2010 was only a month after he and Zane's first visit to the ranch together. He closed his eyes and collected himself, having no idea what the letter could possibly say. He felt Zane tense next to him and he reached out to grab his hand, lacing their fingers together, and gave it a tight squeeze.

“She noted that she wanted this read aloud specifically in the presence of Tyler Grady, if the two of you were still together.” the lawyer indicated to he and Zane.

Ty looked on as Zane close his eyes and nodded, letting the man know it was OK to read the letter.

Harrison interjected “Let me see it first before it's read out loud.” he demanded.

“I'm sorry, sir. There are specific instructions that it not be seen by anyone until it is read out loud by myself.”

“Just let him read it.” Zane sighed and shifted in his seat.

Harrison closed his eyes and nodded, signaling to the man to begin the reading.

 

_**Dearest Zane,** _

 

 

_**When I look back on my life I'm confronted with many events that I regret. I can remember things as early as my childhood that I wish I had done differently but none of them will ever stick out as much as what I've done to you. It's only been a month since you and Tyler left the ranch and I've laid awake every night regretting my actions. It seemed so clear in the moment, what I felt I had to do, but I know now that I was selfish and only wanted you to hurt as much as I did. I'm writing this letter because there are things I need to tell you, things I need to tell your father, things I've never told anyone. If you are reading this then I am gone, what I am about to say will likely come as a surprise to you because I very much doubt I will ever have the courage to speak this out loud while I am still alive. When I was much younger than you are now...I had a conversation with my parents similar to the one I had with you. You see, in my early adulthood I was in love with a woman. She was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen and her heart was as pure as could possibly be. We carried on a relationship in secret for years, stealing away at any moment we could just to be together...but this was a different time and it wasn't the safest of things to do, the world wasn't as progressive as it is now. My parents eventually found out about our relationship and I thought for sure they would kill me or worse, her. I tried my hardest to explain myself to them, to tell them what I felt, but none of it worked. Eventually my mother and I had a conversation where she told me if I were to leave this woman, to break her heart and make it so she would never want to see me again, we would forget this entire thing ever happened. I would marry the nice young man from the Garrett family and we would combine out resources and build a strong legacy for both of our families. It was the last thing I wanted to do but the alternative is that they would send me away and tell her family, and I knew for sure that her parents would kill her. So, to save her life, I broke her heart. I destroyed her and anything she thought about me and left. I married your father, had you and Annie, and spent the rest of my life miserable and resenting everyone and everything I had. It all felt wrong. It was dirty. The you came home looking so happy and healthy, a far cry from the man you were after Becky died, or even before Becky, and I felt the resentment build back up. When you told me about Tyler my entire world collapsed. The walls I'd spent decades building crumbled and let me feeling exposed and powerless and I took it out on you. I tried to break your heart and tear you down just as i did all those years ago to her. I was so, so wrong. I see what an amazing man he is, I see what he's done for you, and I see that you are truly in love, just as I was with her. I need you to know this, Zane, I am so proud of you. I'm prod of you for being strong and not being afraid to be with the person you love, regardless of what I or anyone else think. And to you Ty, if you are here as this is being read then I want to extend my deepest apologies to you, you did not deserve how I disrespected you and I hope in time you will come to understand why I did what I did. Zane, you are the strongest person I've ever met and I am so prod to have been able to be your mother, even if I never showed it.** _

  


_**Forever & Always, ** _

_**Your Mother.** _

 

 

****

The room fell into a dead silence. Ty couldn't have formed words if someone held a gun to his head and made him. He looked around the room and into the eyes of each person and saw the same thing: complete and utter disbelief. Zane didn't make a single sound, Ty reached out to hold his hand and found it nowhere withing reach. He looked over to his husband and saw him sitting with both of his hands over his mouth, his eyes wide with confusion and slight horror. No one in the room had any idea how to progress.

The lawyer finally coughed, “We have one last order of business, the final update to the will occurred only a few months ago, in it Beverly made note that Zane had recently gotten married and she was beginning work on a ceremony to be held in Texas. That has happened, I presume?”

Zane nodded his head.

“Good,” the lawyer continued, “Zane, since you will become to sole owner of the ranch in the event anything happens to your father your mother added in a request, and a blessing, that the name of the Carter-Garrett Ranch be changed to the Carter-Garrett-Grady Ranch so that the family line would still continue to grow. All the appropriate paperwork to change the name of all the ranch's holding is completed and filled out and just needs to be filed. Obviously it it not something you have to decide at this very moment but should you all agree on it all you have to do is give my office a call and I will take care of the rest. I'm very sorry for your loss.”

The lawyer rose from the desk and walked out of the room leaving Ty, Zane, Harrison, and Annie all to sit in a stunned silence for several long minutes.

It was Annie who finally broke the silence.

“Well, I sure as hell didn't see any of that coming.”

 

~*~

 

Zane had been sitting in silence ever since the meeting with the lawyer ended, he hadn't been able to think of any words that could convey what he was feeling so he opted for nothing. Ty kept coming in every few minutes to check on him but he couldn't even muster up a few words for even him. He looked at the clock, 3pm, too early to just go to bed and pretend like none of this happened. They were leaving in the morning to head back to Baltimore and Zane silently cursed ever agreeing to drive to Texas. He briefly flirted with the idea of flying back and having the car shipped home but he knew Ty would never agree to it.

He had to do something, he couldn't stand to be in the house any longer, he was going to lose his mind. He finally stood up and made a line for the stables. Anything to take his mind off of the last hour.

He walked into the stables and pulled his saddle off of the wall and was starting the process of getting a horse ready for a ride when Ty found him.

“What are you doing?” Ty asked.

“I need to do something to get my mind off of all of this, I'm going for a ride.” Zane sighed.

“You know you don't have to ride off into the sunset right? You can talk to me.” Ty frowned.

“I know I can but...I don't even know what to say. None of this feels real.” Zane was pulling himself up onto the horse.

“Give me a second and I'll come with you.” Ty smiled.

“You're willingly offering to get on a horse?” Zane laughed.

Ty rolled his eyes and went forward to grab a saddle but was stopped by Zane.

“Ty, I kinda just need to be alone for a little bit, there's a lot I need to unpack and I think I'd rather be alone when I did it.” Zane gave Ty a pained smile. He didn't want to hurt his feelings or make it seem like he didn't need Ty, but this was something he needed to think about on his own.

Ty just nodded with a frown as Zane spurred his horse off and out of the stables, riding off to no place in particular to try to come to terms with the memory of his mother.

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 15

 

Zane had been gone for two hours now and Ty was getting nervous. He knew that he needed his time to be alone and work out things in just one mind but he hated the idea of Zane being alone at nighttime on horseback in the middle of Texas. 

Ty finally broke down and asked Harrison where he thought Zane would go and set off to find him armed with only a vague general direction of a place Zane went when he was upset when he was younger. He turned on the find my friends setting on his iPhone and gave the access to Annie just in case he fell off the damn horse or something and broke his neck. He couldn't believe he was about to go galloping off on a damn horse with no idea where he was going just to find Zane. He would make him pay for it later. 

Ty took what looked like the most reasonable horse from the stable and saddled up, he had a long conversation with the horse before mounting him and seemed convinced that in trade for a carrot the horse had promised not to kill him. 

The sun had just begun to set when Ty made it to the old tree house Harrison and Zane had built together when he was a child. The horse tied to the tree told Ty that he was in the right place. He carefully dismounted his own horse and tied it to the tree and started the climb to the top of the tree house. 

He knocked on the wood below before entering to give Zane enough of a warning to hopefully not shoot him. 

"Anyone home?" Ty called into the tree house. 

Zane turned and smiled as he saw Ty's head poking through the opening in the floor. 

"No." Zane grinned. 

"Good. I was looking for a place to be alone." Ty joked. 

Ty took in the sight of the tree house, it was massive. There was enough room for Zane to stand and completely stretch himself out. 

"The Garrett's don't to anything small do they?" Ty laughed, waving his arms around to indicate the grandiose tree house. 

"Dad and I built it together over one summer when I was around five years old. He wanted me to have a place I could come and be alone away from the expectations of family. Figured it would be as good of a place as any to decompress today." Zane frowned. 

"Harrison was the one who gave me the directions out here. I don't know how I got lost looking for a tree on flat land but I did...a few times." Ty huffed. 

Zane stood looking out the window and watched as the sun began to sink into the earth. Ty was taken aback at how beautiful he looked, his face cast in a warm pink and yellow glow from the sunset. He looked better than he had when he left two hours ago. 

Ty tentatively walked over and sat down on the floor next to Zane's feet and leaned his back against the wall under the window, smiling as Zane looked back down and turned to him. 

"I should have known you'd find me out here sooner or later." Zane laughed. 

"I know you said you wanted to be alone but it'd been so long I got worried." Ty confessed. 

"I know. Sorry. I got caught up in thinking." Zane was looking out at the horizon, watching as the sun rapidly changed the colors of the sky. 

"It's gonna be dark soon and...I promised to never leave you alone in the dark. It's a promise I take very seriously." Ty said putting his hand on Zane's leg. 

"Thank you." Zane whispered and sat down opposite Ty on the floor. 

"No need to thank me, that's what I'm here for." Ty grinned and playfully poked Zane in the ribs. "The time alone help any?" 

"Yeah. I think. I don't think any of us expected what happened today and I couldn't process it while being worried what everyone else was thinking too so I just had to get away for a while. It was nothing personal." Zane frowned again. 

"I know. I get it. I just didn't want to leave you alone in the wilds. I hear there are tigers around here." Ty growled, throwing his body down on the floor and laying sideways, his head propped up on his hand, and looking at Zane. 

"Tigers?" Zane mocked. "Don't be ridiculous." 

"Laugh now tough guy but see if I help you out when a tiger is dragging you around by your arm." Ty rolled his eyes. 

"Thank you for coming to find me." Zane whispered. 

Ty didn't say anything in return, instead he stretched his free arm out and pulled at Zane, motioning him to lay down on the floor across from him. 

Zane complied and was soon staring face to face with Ty on the floor of the tree house. 

"Want to talk about it?" Ty whispered. 

"I can't believe my mom had a girlfriend." Zane let out a hearty, guttural laugh. 

"I have to say, I didn't take Beverly for someone who would take a swim in the lady pond." Ty laughed back. 

"You know, looking back now things make so much more sense." Zane mused. 

"How so?" Ty asked. 

"I always felt like she resented me. I used to think it was because I was so close to my father, or that it was because I wasn't what she wanted me to be but now I realize it's that I was a walking reminder of how much she hated her life." Zane said, with tears filling his eyes. 

"Don't say that." Ty warned. "It's clear she loved you but she had a lot of demons and didn't know what to do with them." 

"I know, but...it hurts. It hurts to know that every time she looked at me, at least for a few years, all she could think about was how unhappy she was in her life." Zane said in between breaths.  

"I think that letter was her way of saying she didn't though." Ty insisted. "It may have seemed like it but I just think she didn't know how else to express herself. It sounds like she didn't come from the most stable family herself and that's where you learn a lot about how to treat other people." 

"I know...at least it all finally makes sense now and I'm not going to be left to wonder why I felt like my mother hated me for the rest of my life." Zane let out a breath. 

"Focus on the positive. She couldn't change the past but at least she tried to make up with it in the last few years, yeah?" Ty smiled. 

"Yeah." Zane agreed. "I...I'm glad my last memory of her was that whole week. And the last thing I said to her was thank you and I love you while giving her a hug." 

Zane was crying again and Ty edged in closer to him, putting his hand on his cheek and wiping away the tears. 

"Exactly. She gave us this beautiful memory and now every year when we celebrate us we'll have a live of her memory to go along with it." Ty brushed his thumb over Zane lip before leaning in to give him a tender kiss. 

"Thank you, Ty. For everything. For working with her to make the whole thing happen." Zane smiled. 

"I think I grew on her." Ty laughed. "Last thing she said to me was goodnight, she even said it with a smile!" 

"I feel guilty for being this much of a mess." Zane admitted. 

"Why?" Ty frowned. 

"Annie was in the car with her when she died and I've been more worried about my feelings and getting wrapped up in the conspiracy theories. I've barely talked to her about it." Zane sighed. 

"So talk to her." Ty said flatly. "Everyone grieves in their own way. Annie's known you long enough to know how you process grief. Talk to her when you're ready." 

"How do you always know the right thing to say?" Zane smiled. 

"It's a gift." Ty shrugged. 

"Shut up." Zane said, flicking him in his chest. 

"So tell me more about this tree house. Sneak any girls up here to make out with?" Ty said with a grin. 

"No." Zane laughed. "I have to admit I always wanted to though but no one would ever ride all the way out here with me." 

Ty smiled and grabbed Zane by the waist and pulled him as close at their bodies would allow and pressed a fevered kiss to Zane's lips. Zane returned the kiss, sliding his tongue between Ty's lips and letting their tongues dance together. He clutched at Ty's hair that had grown longer than usual over their past week and a half in Texas. He could could feel both of them hardening in their jeans. 

"Are we really going to fuck in this tree house?" Zane laughed. 

"Not unless you happen to have a bottle of lube stored in your saddle bag. I'm not riding back to the house on horseback after going at it without lube." Ty warned with a laugh. 

"No lube." Zane admitted. "Doesn't mean we can't do other things." 

"Tell me more, Mr. Garrett." 

"Well, I could always take off all your clothes and run my tongue down your body." 

"Oh?" 

"Yeah. And then I could run my tongue up and down your cock and make you gasp for air." 

"Big talk for such a small guy." 

Zane pressed his hand over Ty's mouth to stop him from talking and Ty obeyed with a smile. 

They both began to unbutton their shirts and stripped them off, reaching for each others pants next, undoing the belts and letting them drop to the ground when they were unbuttoned. 

Zane's erection stood freely in his loose fitting boxers, Ty growled at the sight. His own cock was held down by the tight fitting fabric of his boxer briefs, leaving an impressive outline that left little to the imagination. 

Ty dropped to his knees and placed kisses down Zane's belly before reaching the elastic waistband of his boxers. He blew a cold breath on the head of his cock that was poking out of the fabric and felt Zane shudder standing over him. Ty pulled the boxers to the floor and took Zane's cock in his mouth, swallowing it completely in one swift motion. 

Zane let out an excited breath and reflexively grabbed the back of Ty's head. Ty let out hum in reply that sent a vibration through Zane's body and indicated that he wanted Zane to use his grasp on his head to fuck his face. Ty clawed at Zane's thighs while his husband used his hands to pull his head up and down on his solid cock, Ty's spit dripping down and out of his mouth to the floor. Neither of them had came in the last few days and Ty knew Zane wouldn't last long under the stimulation. He smiled as he heard his breaths grow more labored and the warning signs of Zane's release began to show. 

"Ty, baby, I'm gonna cum." Zane gasped. 

Ty looked up at his husband and winked, it released the floodgates for Zane and just as quickly as he could let out another moan he felt himself shooting in Ty's mouth. Jet after jet of warm liquid filling his mouth. His entire body was shaking and he was doing all he could to keep himself up right. 

Ty was moaning along with him, happy to be tasking every drop. 

"Don't swallow it all before you kiss me." Zane gritted out. 

Ty looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and Zane winked at him. 

Ty let the spent cock fall from his moth before standing and pressing his face with Zane's. The cum that was on his face smudging itself on Zane's few day old beard. Their tongues tangling and sharing the taste of the other. Ty was painfully hard and this action was doing nothing to help it. 

Zane, as if reading his mind, bit Ty's lip and then dropped to his knees to begin servicing Ty. 

Ty let out a gasp as Zane pulled the boxer briefs off allowing Ty's erection to spring free and breathe. 

Zane ran his tongue up and down the shaft and spent a few precious seconds teasing the head and tasting the precum before sliding it in his mouth. Ty watched Zane's head bob frantically up and down as he got closer and closer to his own release. The sight of his cock slipping in and out of his husbands lips never failed to turn him on and this whole encounter was only adding to the fantasy. 

Ty's knees began to shake as he felt Zane's free hand grasp his balls, stimulating them while his cock was deep in his throat. It was enough to send Ty over the edge and the only watching he was able to give Zane was a frantic tap on the his shoulders, he couldn't manage to form words enough to tell Zane he was about to cum. 

He let out a sharp cry as he came, he heard it echo into the night, bouncing off the open space as his cock released itself into his husbands mouth. He collapsed to his knees before he was even finished, sending jets of cum all over Zane's chest and the floor of the tree house. 

"Kiss me." Ty demanded, echoing Zane's desire from a few minutes earlier. 

Zane kissed him with Ty's cum still in his mouth, both of them moaning and clawing at each other in the heat of the intimate action. 

Ty tumbled to the floor in each others arms, laying there panting with their chests heaving, trying to get the most oxygen they could. 

"I can finally scratch that off my bucket list." Zane laughed in between breaths. 

"That was something else." Ty smiled, nestling himself in the crook of Zane's shoulder and smiling as he felt Zane absentmindedly trace circles on his back. 

They lay there in silence for several long minutes, taking in the warmth and comfort of the others body, before Zane spoke.  

"So, what do you think of Carter-Garrett-Grady ranch?" Zane laughed. 

"Welcome to the C, G, & G!" Ty drawled in a mock Texan accent. 

"Do you want to change the name?" Zane asked seriously. 

"I mean, I'd be honored, but how does your dad feel about it?" Ty asked. 

"Ty, my father adores you, I'm pretty sure he would have written up those papers sooner or later." Zane laughed. 

"All the same, I'd like to talk to him about it, to get his blessing before anything else. Are you OK with that?" Ty smiled. 

"Of course I am, doll." Zane said, twisting his head down to place a kiss on the top of Ty's head. 

"Zane..." Ty said in a quiet voice. 

"Yeah?" Zane asked. 

"It's...getting really dark in here. Can we head back to the house?" Ty said, the embarrassment evident in his voice. 

Zane looked around the small room and hadn't realized how dark it had gotten, he knew Ty's fear of dark enclosed spaces was starting to kick in. He stood up and turned on the flashlight on his phone to illuminate the small room. 

"Of course." Zane smiled, picking up Ty's clothes and handing them to him to get dressed. 

They descended the ladder and mounted up their horses a few minutes later after getting dressed and set off on the trail back towards the house, Zane leading the way through the darkness. 

 

~*~ 

 

When they made it back to the main house they were excited to find that dinner was almost ready, it was 8pm and they had been gone for around three hours and didn't realize how starving they were. 

Ty hopped off the house and was glad that Zane offered to take them both back into the stables and get them settled in while he went to take a shower. 

Ty walked in the door and found Annie in the kitchen, trying to help the best she could with one arm. Ty laughed when he saw her trying to stir a lot in the stove. 

"Annie! Knock it off before you break something else!" He called from the foyer. 

She turned to him and rolled her eyes  

Where's Z?" She asked. 

"In the stable putting the hell horses back into their cages." Ty grinned. 

"Hell is a bad word!" Sadie laughed, sticking her head around the door frame. 

"It is!" Ty laughed and pointed a finger at her. "And don't you forget it." 

"Daddy is upstairs in moms office if you were looking for him. Dinner should be done in about 20." 

Ty nodded his head turned for the stairs. 

He found himself at the entryway to Beverly's office and saw Harrison standing over her solid oak desk. He knocked on the wall which caused a jump from Harrison. 

"Sorry sir, didn't mean to scare you. Just wanted to let you know we're both back. You were right about the tree house." Ty said. 

"I figured he'd be there." Harrison turned around and smiled. "You staying to eat?" 

"Yes sir, I'm starving. Gonna take a quick shower first." Ty said. 

"Good." Harrison nodded. "While I have you here I just wanted to thank you for sticking around for the extra week. I know you both have a life you want to get back to but it meant a lot to me. And Annie. That you stayed." 

"I wouldn't have gone back even if they told me the store was on fire. You're family." Ty said, shaking his hand. 

"What do you think about the name change?" Harrison asked. 

"I actually wanted to ask you about that. I didn't want to make any assumptions until I knew how you felt. I know this place is your baby. I don't want to just slap my name on it too." Ty said, nervous. 

"Ty, you've become like a second son to me over these last few years. Far as I'm concerned your name belongs on those gates just as much as mine or hers. And she thought so as well. Surprised the shit out of me, matter of fact. She never said a thing about it."  Harrison laughed. 

"Well sir, I'd be more than honored to have my name up there alongside the rest of the family." Ty smiled, Harrison's words filled him with an overwhelming sense of pride.

"I'll call the lawyer first thing Monday morning then." Harrison nodded and shook Ty's hand again before pulling him into a hug. 

"Welcome to the C, G, & G!" Harrison laughed again after pushing Ty away. 

"I'm honored to be here." Ty smiled and turned away towards the bathroom, walking down the hallway with a large smile on his face the entire time. 

 

~*~ 

 

Zane came in from the stables and found Annie trying to pull out plates from the cabinets with her one good arm. He rushed over to help her just as one heavy glass place  tipped off of the stack. He lunched to catch it, saving it right before it hit the ground. 

"Smooth moves Uncle Zane!" Sadie lauded. 

"My hero." Annie smiled, placing a kiss on his forehead before turning back to Sadie. "Go get washed up, dinner is almost on." 

Sadie replied with a grumble before skipping of of the kitchen. 

Annie sighed and sat back into one of the stools at the island while the staff around her put the finishing touches on the food. 

"How are you?" She asked Zane. 

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Zane frowned. 

"Why the long face?" Annie said with a furrowed brow. 

"I just realized how selfish I've been the last few days." Zane sighed. 

"Selfish? How?" Annie was confused. 

"All I've been focused on was how I felt about mom, and I got so wrapped up in thinking it wasn't an accident that I didn't stop to really think about how you were doing emotionally. My god Annie, you were with her." Zane frowned again. 

"Zane, you don't need to feel guilty.  It's been a hard week for all of us. I don't hold anything against you. It's not your fault, we all process stuff like this differently." Annie put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up just because you haven't been doting on me all week, it would have driven me crazy anyway." 

Zane laughed. 

"In a way...I'm glad I was with her when she passed." Her voice trailed off and grew quieter. "It makes me feel very at peace. Like, I know she wasn't alone. She died knowing I was there with her, that I was OK. I held her hand and kept telling her how much I loved her." Tears were beginning to fall down Annie's face and Zane felt his eyes start to sting with the familiar feeling too. 

"I get what you mean now when you said it always ate you up that you weren't there with Becky. I know there was nothing I could have done to save her even if my arm hadn't been shattered and I wasn't trapped upside down. There was nothing I could have done but...she wasn't alone and she wasn't scared. And for that I will always be thankful." 

Annie stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes with a dish towel. They were both silent for a moment until the sound of Zane's stomach rumbling broke the silence. 

They both barked a laugh and Annie shooed him out of the kitchen just as she did Sadie. 

"Get get yourself washed up, you're filthy. Ty is showering in your bathroom I think, you can probably catch him before the water runs cold." She winked, smacking him on the behind with her dish towel as he left to kitchen. 

 

~*~ 

 

Dinner was a far lighter affair than it had been for the previous few nights. Everyone at the table took turns sharing their fond memories of Beverly. Zane was surprised at how many he actually had, he had somehow convinced himself that the last 48 years had not produced many good memories but as they all began talking he slowly recovered all the good times he thought he had lost with her. 

Annie notably recalled one such time when she, their mother, and Zane took a trip to a local water park and spent the entire day eating snow cones and being chased around by Beverly in an effort to keep reapplying sunscreen so they wouldn't burn. Of course, they didn't listen and Beverly spent the next few days taking care of them and cutting fresh aloe plants to soothe their sunburns. The memories kept coming and by the end of dinner everyone at the table was ready to turn in with smiles on their face. 

Of course, Zane's curiosity got the better of him and he wouldn't be able to sleep that night if he didn't say something. 

"Dad...at the risk of bringing the entire evening crashing down, I have to know and I'd kick myself if I didn't ask now" Zane trailed off. 

"What is it son?" Harrison asked. 

Zane let out a puff of air. "The letter...the woman mom talked about. Do you know who she was?" 

Zane saw Ty and Annie both tense out of the corner of his eye and Harrison sighed. 

"I don't." He admitted plainly. "Your mother never said a single thing to me about it. I was just as surprised as the rest of you." 

"I figured. I just had to ask." Zane frowned. 

They sat in awkward silence for a few seconds before Annie got up from the table. 

"What time are you leaving tomorrow?" She asked. 

"Early. Probably after breakfast so we can make as much time as we can in one day before stopping." Ty said. 

"Why don't we stay here tonight?" Zane said. "We can wake up tomorrow morning and eat breakfast, then go back to the guest house to pack. I don't think I can even make it to the car outside. I'm exhausted." 

"Fine with me." Ty smiled. 

"That settles it then!" Harrison laughed. "You boys get some sleep and when you wake up in the morning I'll have the pancakes ready to go. Just got some fresh maple syrup from the farmers market the other day." 

Zane's mouth was already watering and he smiled at the fond memories of waking up early for his fathers pancakes as a child. 

Annie led Sadie to her room to tuck her into bed before coming back out and giving Ty and Zane a hug and a kiss goodnight. 

They both said goodnight to Harrison and continued up the stairs to Zane's bedroom, setting into bed and closing their arms around each other. They were interrupted by the purr of the two cats who had jumped into bed with them and Zane groaned as Jiminy and Cricket curled themselves into balls at the foot of the bed and drifted off to sleep. 

Zane rolled his eyes and gave Ty a kiss on the nose before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep instantly in his special Marine way. 

Zane laid in the bed looking at the sleeping Ty, smiling at the thought of one again being in his childhood bedroom with his perfect husband. And their damn cats. 

  
  
  


 


	16. Chapter 16

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 16

 

Zane awoke to the smell of maple syrup and an empty bed. He rolled over to glance at the clock and saw that it was 7am and then reached to the other side of the bed to check for warmth. The bed was cool to the touch indicating that Ty had been out of it for a while. 

He swung his feet off the side of the bed and found his footing, getting up and changing into whatever clothes he had in the room that would be the most comfortable for the long car trip ahead. He settled for a plain white v-neck shirt and black sweatpants before heading downstairs to investigate the smell and find out where Ty was. 

Zane found Ty in the kitchen helping his father cook. He hung back for a second to watch them undetected and smiled at the sight of Ty in cutoff sweats and an over sized shirt wearing an apron and watching Harrison with intense eyes. 

"OK so then I add a teaspoon of vanilla extract?" Ty asked, looking for clarification. 

"Yep. Drop it right in and then drop in a tablespoon of sugar into the mix, more depending on how many you want to make." Harrison smiled. 

"Hold on, let me write that down." Ty said, scrambling for a pen to write down notes on a piece of paper he had stuck to the cabinet in front of his face. 

"Since you're family I'll let you in on my secret." Harrison smiled. 

Ty looked at him, eyes wide with fascination, and nodded his head. 

"Two tablespoons of maple syrup in the batter. That's why Z likes it so much. I've never told anyone that." Harrison whispered. 

Ty once again scrambled for the pen to write down the note on the back of the paper before stuffing it in his pocket. 

Zane smiled when he realized that his father was teaching Ty exactly how to make the pancakes he loves so much when he was younger. Zane turned and walked halfway back up the stairs before coming back down again, much louder, so they would hear him this time. 

"Anyone home?" Zane called as he was coming around the corner. 

"Morning sleepyhead!" Ty smiled, walking over to place a quick peck on his lips. 

"Mornin' son." Harrison said as Zane went over to give him a hug. 

"I'd ask what you were doing when I was sleeping but I guess I found out." Zane laughed. 

"I've been up since around 5:30. I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep so I went to the guest house and packed us up and came back and found your dad starting breakfast so I offered to help." Ty grinned, holding his spatula triumphantly like a scepter. 

"Isn't this cute?" Annie laughed as she came around the corner giving each of the men a peck on the side of the head. 

"Sadie should be barreling down here any minute. She smelled the food in her sleep." Annie rolled her eyes as Sadie came flying around the corner. 

She ran straight past Zane and towards Ty, jumping up into his arms and giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

"Morning to you too, Sadie." Zane laughed. 

"Oh hi Uncle Z!" Sadie laughed, giving him a quick glance and turning all her attention back towards Ty. 

"This is payback for Amelia liking you more." Ty pointed to Zane while swinging Sadie around the kitchen. 

"Foods just about done, everyone go wash your hands and I'll serve us at the table." Harrison said, even kicking Ty out of the kitchen. 

A few minutes later they were all seated at the table as Harrison brought out a monstrous stack of pancakes along with a spread of eggs, bacon, and home fries. It instantly transported Zane back to Sunday mornings as a child and he couldn't do anything other than stare at the collection of food in front of him and smile. 

He was broken out of his spell by Ty placing a kiss on his temple. 

"Earth to Lone Star, earth to Lone Star." Ty laughed. 

"Sorry. I was just remembering how happy mornings like this made me as a kid. And how happy they make me now." Zane smiled. 

"Alright boys and girls, dig in! Make sure you boys fill your bellies before you hit the road." Harrison commanded. 

"How far do you plan on driving today?" Annie asked. 

"Depending on the time we make I'd like to shoot for Nashville, pretty much the halfway mark." Ty said. 

"You just want to go back to the hotel and torture the poor girl at the front desk." Zane laughed. 

"That's about a 12 hour drive." Harrison noted. 

"Yeah, we'll probably head out as soon as we get cleaned up from breakfast." Zane smiled. 

"Don't leave!" Sadie whined. 

"We've gotta, kid." Ty laughed. "Got a bookstore back home that's been shut for a little too long. The natives are probably boycotting us at this point." 

"We're going to be so flooded when we open back up on Monday." Zane grimaced at the thought. 

"We need to plan a trip down there, I'm dying to see the store." Annie said. "I keep meaning to ask, weren't you two going to live in it? What changed?" 

"Well for starters, if blew up." Ty laughed. 

"When we were rebuilding it from the ground up we realized no matter what we did we wouldn't have nearly enough space so we decided to just completely redo the row house instead. We built in a small studio on the top floor of the store just so we had one but in the end both of our hearts belonged to the row house." Zane smiled. 

Of course what Zane wasn't telling her what that regardless of how much he or Ty loved the bookstore neither of them wanted to live above a secret CIA outpost full time. Plus, Zane really did love that fucking row house. 

"I think we're due for a visit when daddy gets back home, what do you say Sadie?" 

"Yes please!" 

The rest of the morning passed too quickly for Zane's liking. He was glad to be heading home and to get back to the store but he was also leaving a place he felt still needed him. 

"Are you sure you're going to be OK?" Zane asked Annie. 

"For the last time, yes. Mark will be back in a little under two weeks and Sadie and I are staying here with daddy until then." Annie smiled. 

"Tell Mark he can call me whenever he needs, any time of the night, if he needs to talk about anything." Zane put his hand on Annie's shoulder. "And so help me god if he ever does anything like he did that night I better be your first call after you get the fuck out of there." 

"I promise. You can leave with a clean conscience, Z. I can take care of myself and daddy will put the fear of god into Mark when he gets back. Daddy and I will be just fine without you here 24/7." Annie said, pulling Zane into a one armed hug. 

Zane kissed her on the top of her head and traded places with Ty who was saying goodbye to Sadie. 

Harrison walked over to send the boys on their way with a giant bear hug for the both of them. 

"You drive safe now, you hear me? You get tired then you pull off and find a place at the nearest exit. And call me every time you stop." Harrison was understandably nervous about such a long car trip given the recent events. 

"Yes sir, you have my word." Ty laughed and shook his hand. 

He tossed Zane the keys and he almost missed them out of sheer surprise. 

"You're letting me drive?" Zane laughed. 

"Zane, I've been awake since like 5am, of course I'm letting your ass drive." Ty said, loading the cats into the car. 

"Drive safe." Annie smiled with one last hug. 

"Next time you boys see this place it will have a new name." Harrison called out as they started the car. 

Zane pulled out of the ranch with his free hand grasping Ty's. He smiled fondly at the image that grew smaller in the rear view mirror and knowing that the next time they were there it would be a completely different place and he looked forward to seeing just how different it would be. 

 

~*~ 

 

The drive to Nashville was uneventful. They only stopped once to eat and then three or four more times between that just to switch who was driving. The highlight of this stretch of the trip, at least in Zane's eyes, was watching and secretly recording Ty singing along to Celine Dion's It's All Coming Back To Me Now. Ty would of course kill Zane with his bare hands if he knew that he recorded it, but Zane tucked it away in his back pocket for possible blackmail one day in the future. More than likely thought he would just keep it in his phone for the memory of it because Ty sounded amazing. 

Zane pulled the car into the same hotel they stayed at on their way to Texas around 10pm. Ty hopped out and began unloading their bags as Zane gave the keys and a tip to the valet driver. He'd never actually liked  valet services but tonight he loved them because he couldn't stand to be in that damn car for one more second. 

He looked over and caught sight of Ty, his arms above his head, leaning backwards and stretching. Ty's tight shirt rode up just slightly as he bent every which way to try and work out he kinks in his muscles. Zane could feel himself staring, possibly beginning to drool as he took in the sight of Ty's happy trail peaking out of the space where his shirt had ridden up. He was snapped back into reality by Ty's laugh. 

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Ty said with a wink. 

"Let me get you into the room and I might just do that." Zane teased with a devilish grin. 

They slung their bags over this shoulders and Ty carried the cats in their carrier to the front desk to check in. 

"Reservation for..." Zane paused to wink at Ty. "Garrett-Grady." 

Ty barked a laugh "Why does your name get to go first this time." 

Zane rolled his eyes as the girl behind the counter laughed at their display. 

"Good evening, gentlemen. I have everything here for you. I just need to swipe your card and get a quick signature from you." 

Zane produced his credit card and scribbled what would have to pass for a signature onto the sheet and traded it for the return of his card and their keys. 

"Breakfast is in the morning from 6:30am to 10am. Can I get you anything else before you head off?" 

"I think we've got it, thank you." Zane smiled before locking his arm with Ty's and pulling him towards the elevator. 

They pushed themselves into the room and immediately collapsed in the bed, stretching out as much as the other would allow to try and make up for eleven hours of being stuck in a car. 

"Really want to see you naked," Ty sighed, "also really just want to go to sleep."

"Same." Zane huffed. 

They turned to face each other and smiled, trading a kiss on the lips before they both stood up to take their clothes off. 

Zane smiled at the sight of Ty standing naked before him. He reached down to his phone and grabbed it to take a picture. Ty laughed when he heard the click. 

"You told me to do it." Zane winked. 

Zane stripped himself of his clothes and allowed Ty to gaze for as long as he wanted. 

They both fell back to the bed. 

"OK, we've seen each other naked. Now we sleep." Ty laughed and turned off the bed side lamp before rolling over and sliding under Zane's arm. 

"Love you." He kissed the strong muscle on Zane's chest. 

"Love you too." Zane replied, kissing the crown of Ty's head as they both drifted off to sleep.

 

~*~ 

 

Ty was stirred from his sleep by the commotion next to him. He opened his eyes to see Zane trying to swat two cats away from his face. Ty laughed at the sight of it. Sometimes Jiminy and Cricket would wake up in a very playful mood and would not let you rest until you joined in on their games. Ty looked over his shoulder at the clock and found it was only 7am. 

Ty pushed his lips together and let out a long, precise, gust of air in the directions of the cats. It sent them running for the hills, desperate to get say from the unseen force that had scared them. The cats were hell raisers but the one thing that always kept them in check was this disdain for being blown on. 

Zane laughed when he realized Ty had come to his rescue. Ty looked at him, smiling, and sat up in the bed for a brief second just before rolling on top of him. 

"Morning." Ty said, kissing Zane. 

"My hero." Zane rasped. 

They were both quiet for a moment before speaking, their words coming out at the same exact time. 

"Do you know what day it is?" The both asked the other. 

Ty squinted his eyes at the question being asked to him and he could tell Zane was doing the same thing. 

They both assumed the other would forget and wanted to be the one that reminded them. 

"It's-" Ty tried to rush out his statement but was cut off my Zane who decided a less formal approach would win him the race. 

"Valentines Day." Zane winked. 

Ty rolled off of him in utter defeat. 

"I wanted to be the one to say it! I thought you'd forget!" Ty protested. 

"Having a building dropped on you kinda cements a date into your head, just so happened it was Valentines Day." Zane laughed. 

Ty rolled his eyes even thought Zane had a point. 

"I hate that we're going to spend it driving all day." Zane frowned. 

Ty sensed his opportunity and made a move  he spring himself up for the bed, crawling over Zane's body to reach the phone. He hit the operator button and waited patiently for the front desk to answer. 

"Hi, this is room 521, I'd like to extend our stay for one more night if that's possible." Ty paused and waited for the answer. "Perfect. Thank you so much. I'll be down to have the keys remade." 

He hung up the phone and winked at Zane. 

"Happy Valentines Day, baby."

 

~*~

 

“So,” Zane sat across from Ty in the dining area of the hotel, “how do you want to spend out first Valentines Day as a married couple where we aren't getting shot at, stabbed, blown up, and otherwise hunted?”

“I don't know,” Ty sighed, “can anything really live up to last year?”

“Speaking from experience I'm pretty sure anything we did today would be better than having a building drop on top of me and me waking up thinking you were dead and almost sinking Nick's boat with a shotgun.” Zane said matter-of-factually

Ty let out a loud laugh that was enough to draw more than a few looks from the people around him.

“You know if anyone overheard this conversation they'd probably call the police, right? Ty smiled.

“That's what makes us, us.” Zane grinned and leaned across the table to kiss him.

“I have an idea!” Ty said.

“Oh no.” Zane smirked.

“Bite me, Garrett.” Ty rolled his eyes.

“Sounds like a perfect Valentines Day plan.” Zane winked.

“Let me talk!” Ty said, getting flustered and turning red.

“Go on, doll.”Zane cooed.

“How about you plan something for the afternoon and I'll plan something for the evening? That was we both get to do something for the other.” Ty smiled triumphantly.

“That's actually...a great plan. I'm proud of you.” Zane smiled and gave Ty a sarcastic pat on the head.

“Keep it up and my evening plans are going to include divorce papers you asshole.” Ty growled.

“Shut up and drink your orange juice.” Zane pointed at him with his fork and blew him a kiss.

The playful teasing continued through the rest of breakfast, Ty and Zane going back and fourth with loving insults as the rest of the guests either ignored them or watched on in fascination.

Zane nearly thought the teasing had subsided until Ty launched a piece of bacon at him.

“Did you really just throw bacon at me?” Zane laughed.

“When pigs fly.” Ty giggled, sticking his tongue out.

“I'm married to a five year old.” Zane sighed.

“That would be highly illegal and frankly pretty fucking gross.” Ty teased.

Zane didn't have a response in word form, he simply answered him by scooping a glob of jelly on his plastic spoon, turning it around and pulling it back like a catapult and releasing it, sending a sticky glob of grape jelly flying directly in to Ty's face.

Ty sat across from hims frozen in disbelief for a few seconds before reaching his hand up to wipe the jelly off of his face.

“You're playing a dangerous game, Garrett.” Ty growled.

Zane's only response was to bite his lip and wait to see what Ty's next move would be.

He watched as Ty studiously evaluated his plate looking for the perfect weapon. Zane laughed as it looked like he give up and opting to take his plate to the trash instead. Zane was ever so wrong. Instead of heading for the trashcan Ty picked up his spoon, sticking it into his bowl of grits, and walked over to stand above Zane, turning his spoon over so a heaping mound of breakfast food fell on top of his head.

“That...is disgusting.” Zane laughed.

“Don't start something you can't finish.” Ty winked.

Zane knew it was time to go for the big guns, he picked up his disposable packet of maple syrup and stood, laughing internally as Ty's eyes widened in horror. Ty didn't move, either frozen in disbelief that Zane had gone that hardcore or rather he was taking it like a good sport. Zane hovered over Ty for a moment before grabbing his shirt by the collar and pulling it out as far as he could. He help the syrup above Ty's body and turned it over, licking his lips as he saw the sticky liquid fall down Ty's shirt and over his body, turning his abs in a sweet and sugary treat.

Zane sat back down at the table and realized now that almost the entire room had stopped to look at them. He felt himself flush and turn red. He'd was so entranced in Ty that he'd completely forgotten that they were in a crowded public space.

“I have no words.” Ty sighed, holding his napkin up and waving it like a white flag.

Zane smiled triumphantly in his defeat of Ty, leaning over the table to kiss him.

“We might want to head back to the room and get cleaned up before we get kicked out of the hotel.” Zane laughed.

“You're paying for my dry cleaning.” Ty said, motioning his hands up and down his sticky body.

“I'll do you one better, I'll take you upstairs and lick all they syrup off your body.” Zane said with a bite to his lip.

“That could be fun.” Ty growled, getting up from the table and grabbing Zane by the wrist to pull him back to their room.

 

~*~

 

“So, where are we going?” Ty asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and bouncing excitedly and watching Zane finish putting his clothes on.

The only instructions Zane had given him after they finished cleaning breakfast food off of each other in the shower was to wear shoes that he would be comfortable walking in all day. That didn't do much to give Ty any answers since you basically had to walk all day no matter where you went. He tried every tactic he could think of that didn't involve drawing blood to try and get Zane to answer but he wouldn't budge. Ty finally quieted and accepted whatever fate was about to befall him.

When they finally made it to their destination after a short drive Ty was beside himself with excitement.

“You're taking me to the zoo?” Ty grinned, resisting the overwhelming urge to jump up and down like a small child.

“Mhm, I'll even buy you a stuffed animal if you're good.” Zane ribbed Ty.

Ty was too busy taking in the sight of the imposing entrance to the Nashville Zoo to pay attention to Zane and his teasing.

Ty bounced back and fourth excitedly in line waiting to enter the zoo. After Zane had paid for their tickets he set off, weaving his way through the crowd to get to the park map and plan out the rest of the days adventures. He was aware of how much like a child he was acting but Ty loved zoo's. He'd loved them ever since his mom took him and Deuce to one when they were younger and he realized that it had been over a decade since he'd been to one last. He was going to make up for the last ten years today.

He leaned into Zane's chest reflexively when he felt his arms circle around him.

“What do you want to do first?” Zane asked.

Ty studied the map, the zoo was split into three separate sections all housing different animals: the central area, the jungle area, and the savanna area. The central area obviously being in the center and the jungle and savanna areas being to the left and right, respectively.

“Lets go piece by piece,” Ty said while pointing to the left, “jungle, then central, then savanna.”

“Lead the way.” Zane smiled while patting him on the back

Ty was less than amused when the first thing he encountered in the jungle loop was a cougar.

“You've got to be kidding me.” Ty scoffed as Zane stood behind him doubled over in laughter.

“You planned this!” Ty accused.

“I didn't even know they had cougars here Ty!” Zane held his hands up in self defense.

Ty turned around the face Zane, his back against the cage, and shifted when he saw Zane's eyes widen. He gave Zane an inquisitive look and Zane's only reply was motioning Ty to turn around.

When Ty did turn he found himself face to face with the cougar. He jumped back in surprise, losing his footing and falling on his ass.

“I think she smelled you, Meow Mix.” Zane whispered while helping Ty up from the ground.

Ty's only reply was walking away from the cougar exhibit as fast as his feet would carry him, Zane trailing behind him and laughing the entire time.

The rest of the time in the jungle area was a much more fun experience. They spent time with moneys, alligators, flamingos, and Ty's favorite part of the area, the Kangaroo Experience. They spent almost an hour in a large open area with kangaroos bouncing about them, running and playing with them, watching them as they hopped from person to person for food and attention. It all ended with a souvenir that Ty knew he would treasure for the rest of his life, a photo of him and Zane, surrounded by kangaroos on all sides, kissing, and holding a stuffed baby kangaroo in their arms.

“I was afraid you were going to try to fight one of them.” Zane laughed and Ty had to admit that the image of him in a boxing match with a kangaroo was an interesting one.

By lunchtime they had cleared the entire central area of the zoo, including spending time on an artificial island filled with small monkeys that would occasionally take their place on their shoulders, and stopped at the first restaurant they saw in the savanna area to eat.

They sat at the cafe, Ty eating his burger and Zane his salad.

“Thank you.” Ty smiled.

“You're welcome.” Zane said, stealing one of Ty's fries.

“Ma took us to a zoo when we were kids, it was one of my favorite places to go, every time we'd have a free weekend and she asked what we wanted to do I always told her I wanted to go back to the zoo.” Ty smiled, lost in his memory.

“I know.” Zane laughed.

“What?” Ty asked.

“She told me, months ago, one night when we were staying up talking after you fell asleep.” Zane smiled.

“You and my mom talk when I fall asleep.” Ty gasped.

“All the time. She told me how much you loved the zoo and when I was looking at things to do here today I saw they had a huge zoo and knew I had to take you.” Zane said, reaching his hand out to give Ty's a squeeze.

“We'll come back to the whole late night conversations with my mom some other time.” Ty smiled, too wrapped up in how much he loved Zane to pursue that conversation.

Their day at the zoo ended around 3pm, Ty satisfied he'd seen everything he possibly could in their five hours there. They walked out of the zoo, hand in hand, towards the car and began the drive back to the hotel.

“So, when does it become your turn?” Zane asked Ty.

“We go back to the hotel, shower, put on our nicest clothes, and then I take over.” Ty smiled.

“Nicest clothes?” Zane asked, “Like just fancy nice or suit and tie nice?”

“Fancy nice will be good, I think” Ty laughed.

“I'm excited.” Zane grinned.

“So am I.” Ty said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

 

~*~

 

Zane stood in the lobby of the hotel with his gown out hair slicked back in the way that he knew Ty loved. He watched Ty as he talked to the receptionist, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to make sure Zane wasn't coming closer to try and figure out his surprise. Zane wouldn't dare though. He knew how romantic Ty could be and he loved being surprised by him.

“OK, we're good to go.” Ty said, grabbing Zane by the hand and pulling him out of the door to the car.

“At least tell me we're going to earth, I'm starving.” Zane laughed.

“There is food somewhere on the agenda.” Ty confessed, pulling the car out of the hotel parking lot and onto the road.

The music played softly through the speakers of the car, setting an intimate mood as they drove towards the sunset.

“You're staring.” Ty laughed at Zane who was, in fact, staring.

“I just love the view.” Zane smiled.

“You're so cheesy.” Ty rolled his eyes.

“You've got to brie kidding me!” Zane protested.

Ty choked on a laugh, the car swerving slightly. He pulled up to the stoplight and turned to Zane and flicked him on the nose.

“Pun penalty.”

“You feta take that back!” Zane yelled in mock sadness.

“Zane.” Ty warned .

“You've gouda lighten up, Ty!”

“Zane, so help me god I will turn this car around.”

“The cheese stands alone.” Zane sighed, leaning over to kiss Ty on the cheek.

“You're lucky I love you.” Ty rolled his eyes and kept driving. “We're almost there.”

Zane laughed, fighting back at least three more cheese puns for the sake of his relationship.

Ty pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, getting out of the car and running to Zane's side to open the door for him.

“I love when you do that.” Zane smiled, placing a kiss on the hand that Ty offered him. They walked hand in hand to the inside of the restaurant and Zane couldn't get over how cool the place was.

“Welcome to Sinema, do you have a reservation for us this evening?” the hostess asked

“Yeah, reservation for two under Grady.” Ty smiled.

“Right this way, we have a nice romantic spot set up for you two.” the girl said, smiling and leading them back to their table.

“This place is beautiful, Ty.” Zane's mouth was agape as he took in the sight on the restaurant. Their table was a plush booth with high backs that wrapped around to form a half circle, it was secluded and intimate and allowed them to focus on only each other.

“It used to be an old movie theater in the 40's.” Ty said.

“How on earth did you get a reservation here on Valentines Day?” Zane asked, still shocked.

“Remember that manager from the last time we were here?” Ty asked with a smile.

“Yeah.” Zane replied.

“Her wife is the head chef, I ran into her this morning and asked her if she had any recommendation for dinner tonight and she called her and got us a reservation.” Ty laughed.

“Wow.” was all Zane could think to reply as the waitress came over and took their orders carrying a glass bottle that looked suspiciously like something he couldn't drink.

“Sparkling cider.” the girl said, poring him and Ty a glass in a champagne flute and seemingly reading his mind before walking away.

“They give everyone free champagne,” Ty started, “but I had them make a no alcohol note so they brought something else in for us instead.”

Ty smiled and held up his glass to toast.

“To my beautiful husband who I love more than anything in this world.” Ty smiled, clinking his glass to Zane's and taking a drink.

“To not being blown up. And to being here with you.” Zane raised his glass in toast and took a sip.

The entire evening was a dream. Zane could have stayed in that restaurant all night just looking at Ty and getting lost in his eyes but Ty apparently had other plans.

“Night's not over yet, Lone Star.” Ty smiled as the waitress came back with his credit card.

“There's more?” Zane gasped.

“Of course! You don't think I could just celebrate Valentines Day with just dinner do you?” Ty asked in mock outrage.

They got back into the car and were off again, the ride was going smoothly until Ty handed him a blindfold.

“You're kidding, right?” Zane asked, knowing full well if Ty had giving him a blindfold it was completely serious.

“Nope. Put it on.” Ty insisted.

“This makes me nervous, Tyler.” Zane frowned.

“First, don't Tyler me. Second, trust me. I can't surprise you if you see where we're going before we even get there.”

“Fine,” Zane relented and put the blindfold on, “how long do we have?”

“Probably like five minutes, I waited as long as I could to make you put it on.” Ty said, Zane unable to make out his face because of the blindfold.

He could feel Ty's hand on his thigh, rubbing up and down to try and comfort him. He might not have an innate fear of the dark like Ty did but being blindfolded in a car and having no idea where he was being taken still brought back a lot of memories from his Miami days that weren't very comforting. Ty was different though and would never do anything to harm him and if he wanted him blindfolded for a surprise then it was going to be a damn good one.

Zane felt the car come to a stop after a few minutes and tried to take the blindfold off as he heard the car being put in park.

“Not yet!” Ty said, batting his hand away from his face.

Zane sighed and waited for Ty to come open his car door and lead him somewhere. It was bringing back a lot of memories of when he went temporarily blind and he was starting to freak out, regardless of the intentions.

“Ty...I need to take this off. It's too much. It's taking me back to when I went blind...” Zane was cut off mid freak out by the blindfold being removed. When his vision focused he was facing Ty who was giving him the biggest grin he'd ever seen.

“Sorry, I didn't even think it might send you back to then.” Ty said, kissing him on the lips.

“So what was all this for?” Zane asked, he didn't see anything behind Ty that looked that spectacular.

“Turn around.” Ty laughed.

Zane complied and almost fell backwards when he realized where they were, they were standing in front of the Grand Ole Opry.

“Ty...” Zane trailed off.

“Happy Valentines Day.” Ty smiled, wrapping his hands around Zane's waist from behind.

Zane looked at the banners cascading down from the roof of the building that read 'Celebrate Valentines Day with some of the greatest love songs ever performed live'.

“This has to be sold out...how did you do this too?” Zane asked.

“One of the girls who works at the hotel told me about it, said she and her boyfriend had tickets but they broke up last week so I bought the tickets from her.” Ty said.

“You're really pulling out all the stops, huh? Makes my zoo date look so pedestrian.” Zane laughed.

“Your zoo date was amazing you idiot. I just wanted to do something memorable for you. Now lets get inside before we're late. It starts in like five minutes.”

Zane laughed and set off towards the building, arm in arm with Ty, and wondered how the fuck he got so lucky to have found him.

 


	17. Chapter 17

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 17

 

Ty sat at the front counter of the bookstore, watching Zane studiously as he stocked the shelves. It was one of his favorite pastimes, especially when she stretched just enough that shirt shirt rode up and revealed his abdomen, which is exactly what was happening now. He bit his lip as he imagined the many ways he could walk over to him right now and have his way with him. They'd been back from their surprisingly long trip to Texas for two weeks now and they had settled back into their daily routine or normal life. Or as normal as life could be when you ran a bookstore that doubled as a CIA safe house. The CIA was surprisingly friendly and accommodating to them in their extended absence but now that they've been back it felt like they had a new guest almost every night. It wasn't hard work, nor terribly dangerous, it mostly amounted to babysitting a CIA agent or asset until home office sent someone in a night, large, bulletproof SUV to pick them up. A few occasions this week had led to some punches being thrown when a prisoner escaped custody, a fact Ty was grateful for because it had been far too long since he hit someone. Ty, however, was not grateful for the fact that it resulted in a broken finger. He was stirred from his thoughts by the god damn bell over the door

“What happened to the finger?” the voice of a young girl asked him.

Ty's eyes focused and realized it was April, the young college student who came in almost daily to use their WiFi and take advantage of all the beanbag chairs they had to offer. It was the first time he'd seen her since they'd been back, he hadn't expected to ever see her again since the last time she was there she was held at gunpoint by a would be burglar.

“Occupational hazard.” Ty smiled.

“What did you do, drop a book on it?” April laughed.

“Something like that.” Zane called from over his shoulder, placing his last book on the shelf and turning around to meet them.

Zane pulled the girl into a quick hug before speaking.

“How have you been, kiddo?” Zane asked.

“Well, no one's held a gun to my head in the last month so everything's coming up rosy.” April smiled.

“Sorry about that, kid.” Ty frowned, “We never should have left you alone in the store.”

“Don't sweat it, it's not your fault.” April laughed. “Where did you learn to take down a guy like that though? It was pretty bad ass.”

“That's what happens when two former FBI agents open a bookstore. Guy chose the wrong damn place.” Ty said triumphantly.

“Good to know we'll be safe then. I'm meeting a few friends here in a minute to work on a project, we'll try not to be too loud.” April said.

“I just put up a new table in the back, should be big enough for all of you and whatever you need to spread out. New WiFi code too, it's 'cricket'.” Zane smiled.

“Creative.” she smiled, nodded her head, and turned away from the to head to the back of the store.

“You're so good with people, Garrett.” Ty smiled.

“I'm just a candy-ass brown noser.” Zane winked and leaned in to kiss Ty on his nose.

“When you remind me of shit I used to say I wonder why you married me.” Ty wrinkled his nose in response to his old and harsh words.

“For better or for worse.” Zane smiled as another group of college age kids walked through the door.

Ty pointed them to the back of the store assuming they belong to April and smiled when he overheard two of the girls gossiping about how hot he and Zane were.

“God, April was right, they are babes.” Girl number one said.

“And they're gay. Such a shame.” Girl number two sighed.

Ty rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“We have a fan club.” Zane smiled.

“What, did you think people actually game here to buy books?” Ty winked.

Zane was interrupted mid reply by his phone ringing, he glanced down at the screen and saw it was Annie. He answered and put it on speakerphone.

“Hey Annie, you're on speaker with me and Ty.” Zane announced to her.

“Hey guys.” Annie said.

“What's up? Everything OK?” Zane asked.

“Yeah. Mark got back two days ago, just wanted to give you an update.” Annie said.

“How is he?” Ty asked.

“Good. Great actually, he looks better than I've seen him in years. We had a really long talk and apparently...he's been drinking a lot for years, not just a few months like I thought. I don't know how I didn't see it.” Annie sighed.

“Don't beat yourself up, it's not that hard to hide really.” Zane said softly.

“That's what he said.” Annie laughed.

“How's the arm?” Ty asked.

“Good, I'm getting the cast off tomorrow and replacing it with an arm brace. Not fully healed at all but at least it's better than this disgusting plaster mess I've been wearing for the last month.” Annie laughed again.

“That's good. Ty broke his finger again.” Zane smiled.

“Of course he did,” Ty could hear Annie rolling her eyes through the phone, “Quick question?”

“Shoot.” Zane said.

“There's a veterinary conference in the city next week that I was thinking about going to, if it's not too much trouble would you be open to Mark, Sadie, and I staying with you guys?” Annie asked.

Zane glanced at Ty, waiting to see if he would say anything protest. TY just shrugged and mouthed 'sure' with a smile.

“No trouble at all,” Zane said, “we had the attic redone into another spare bedroom so there will be more than enough room for everyone.”

“Good! I'm glad. I cant wait to see the store. I'll call you later with the rest of the details. Love you, Z. You too, Ty.” Annie said and hung up the phone.

“Should be fun.” Zane said.

Ty was about to agree when a buzz came from the back door signaling a CIA drop off.

“That should be more fun.” Ty grinned.

 

~*~

 

The rest of the week passed quickly as Zane worked on getting the house ready for Annie's arrival. It was true that they had renovated the attic into a new bedroom but what Zane happened to leave out on the phone was that they hadn't gotten around to getting a bed for it.

“Why didn't we just move our old one up here again?” Ty asked.

“Because we were tired of sleeping on a twin bed that creaked with every single movement when we went to Bluefield so we took it there for us when we stay there.” Zane laughed.

“Right. So now we have to go out and buy an entire new mattress and bed frame...do you know how much of a pain in the ass it is to move a bed up one flight of stairs, let alone two?” Ty sighed.

“Which is why I've already ordered everything online and arranged to have it delivered, hauled upstairs, and put together by someone other than us.” Zane smiled.

“I like the way you think.” Ty laughed, patting him on the ass.

Zane knew Ty would never have spent the extra money to have someone haul and assemble the whole thing so he went ahead and did it himself, Ty was stubborn about things like that but he knew he was secretly elated.

The movers came and went and after about an hour of not lifting a single finger they were left with a brand new bed in the attic living space and after a double check of the other guest room on the second floor they were ready to go for Annie, Mark, and Sadie's arrival tomorrow.

“You know it's going to be impossible for us to have sex for the next few days with all of them here?” Ty asked.

“Please don't remind me.” Zane laughed.

“What do you say we go break in that net mattress then?” Ty smiled a devilish grin.

“You want to have sex on the brand new bed we just bought less than 24 hours before my sister and her husband sleep in it?” Zane gasped.

“Pretty much.” Ty said flatly.

“You're terrible.” Zane laughed as Ty pulled him upstairs by the wrists.

They collapsed on the bed together 30 minutes later, naked, sticky, and out of breath.

“We're going to need to wash these sheets. Twice.” Ty huffed.

“I can't believe you made me do this.” Zane laughed.

“Didn't make you do anything, Garrett. You're just easy.” Ty growled.

“Remember this when we're not having sex for the next three days.” Zane warned.

“You could always take me to work and fuck me in the adult section.” Ty purred.

“Been there, done that, got cum on the tee shirt.” Zane winked. “Now get your ass up and help me clean this place up.”

Another 30 minutes passed and they were clothed and in the kitchen after successfully wiping any trace of their escapades in the new bed.

“What do you want for dinner?” Zane asked from the kitchen.

“What do you want for dinner?” Ty echoed.

“I'm not doing this again, Ty.” Zane glared.

Most of their fights these days stemmed from neither of them knowing what they wanted to eat for dinner, they would continue back and forth for what seemed like hours before one of them got too annoyed to stand it and stormed out dramatically saying they would rather just not eat.

“I'm indecisive.” Ty slumped in his chair.

“Fine, then I'll just grill two steaks and throw some potatoes in the oven and you'll deal with that.” Zane rolled his eyes.

“Good. That's what I was in the mood for anyway.” Ty smiled.

Zane could only respond with a strangled yell. Ty was going to drive him off a ledge one day with this.

 

~*~

 

Ty was half asleep when the doorbell rang the next morning and he knew it was Annie. He'd been left behind at home to wait for them after Zane had to go open the store early to receive a new book shipment. He stumbled down the stairs, his eyes not even fully opened, and to to the door to open it.

The first thing he saw when the door swung up was Sadie in a flying leap heading for his body. His reaction time was off and instead of catching her she landed face first in his chest and comically slid down the rest of his body and onto the floor with a cry.

“You...didn't...catch...me!” Sadie stammered.

“I'm half asleep, kid.” Ty yawned.

“Sadie,” Annie sighed, “get off the floor. You're getting filthy.”

She turned to Ty and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Where's Mark?” Ty asked.

“Parking the rental.” Annie pointed over her shoulder to Mark attempting to parallel park on the side of the street with little to no success.

Ty welcomed them into the house as Mark finally managed to squeeze himself into a small square on the street. He greeted Mark with a handshake and they all made their way inside.

“Haven't seen it since y'all redid it,” Mark whistled, “looks nice.”

“Yeah, this poor space went through a lot, she needed a face lift.” Ty laughed, “I was surprised how much Zane and I agreed on with everything.”

“Where is Z?” Mark asked.

“Left a little bit earlier to head to the store to get a shipment in, I “volunteered” to sleep in late and wait for you guys.” Ty smiled.

He led them up to the second floor to drop off Sadie's stuff in the spare bedroom and then upstairs to the new one.

“I present to you, the master guest suite!” Ty announced, waving his arms in an ironic welcome and bow.

“Impressive.” Annie laughed.

“Nice bed,” Mark said taking a set on it, “comfy.”

“Yeah...it's brand new.” Ty giggled and shifted back and fourth on his feet.

“What's your schedule for the next few days?” Ty asked Annie in an attempt to change the subject.

“I have the rest of today free, tomorrow is the conference and Mark is going to be my date, and then the last day I'll have free again and we can do whatever.” Annie nodded.

“Sounds like a plan. You hear that, Sadie? Uncle Z and I get an entire day with just you to shower in presents. Sound fun?” Ty smiled.

“Sounds like the. Best. Day. Ever.” She yelled, waving her hands above her head.

“Let's not go that far, princess.” Mark laughed.

“So, when do we get to see the store?” Annie asked.

“Let me go throw some decent clothes on and we can walk down there.”

Ty's idea of decent clothes was a pair of ripped jeans and a t shirt that had “Worlds Okayest Husband” written on it in big black letters. He looked in the mirror, shrugged, and walked downstairs to lead the group to the bookstore.

 

~*~

 

“Welcome to Brick and Mortar Books!” Zane called with his back turned away from the door.

“Is that any way to greet family?” Annie laughed from the doorway.

Zane smiled and turned around to wrap Annie in a tight hug and saw Ty, Mark, and Sadie follow through the door.

“Mark.” Zane greeted with a handshake and a nod of his head as Sadie ran full speed towards him and wrapped herself around his leg.

“Hey to you too pumpkin.” Zane laughed, patting her on the head.

“The pictures don't do this place justice, Zane, it's beautiful.” Annie marveled at the interior.

“Thanks, I'm pretty proud of it.” Zane smiled.

“Garrett, if you don't answer your damn phone,” a voice Zane knew all too well called from the front of the store, “I'm going to shove it up your as-Annie.” Clancy corrected herself in time with an embarrassed look on her face.

“Good to see you too, Michelle.” Annie laughed.

“He did not tell me you were coming.” Clancy sighed.

“Sorry, been a little busy. What did you need?” Zane asked.

“I wanted to pick your brain for a second on this case, see if looking at it from a new perspective helps any...but I can come back later, I have to get back to the office anyway since you wasted all that time by not answering your phone.” Clancy huffed.

“Come by tomorrow and bring whatever you want me to take a look at.” Zane smiled.

“Yeah, yeah. It was nice to see you again, Annie.” Clancy said as she turned and walked out the door.

“Looking at a case?” Annie questioned, “I thought you were retired?”

“I am, but Clancy will bring me in as a special consultant on something from time to time as ASIC if she needs a fresh set of eyes, mostly cyber crime based stuff. I basically get to do all the boring stuff of being an FBI agent without having to fill out any paperwork or getting to shoot anything.” Zane shrugged.

“Bookstore owner, special consultant to the FBI, you sound like a TV show.” Mark laughed.

“If you only knew the half of it.” Ty rolled his eyes and earned a quick elbow to the side from Zane.

“When are they gonna bring us in on some juicy murder?” Ty bounced around like a child.

“I've had enough juicy murder for my lifetime.” Zane sighed.

“Where's the kid section?” Sadie asked.

“Up the stairs and to the right, sweetie.” Zane smiled as Sadie got a running start and bounded up the stairs two steps at a time in search of whatever books she wanted for herself.

“How did she stay still on the place?” Ty laughed.

“She didn't.” Mark sighed.

Zane let out a laugh before showing Annie and Mark the rest of the store. When the tour was done they each relaxed on two of the bigger couches on the second floor, Zane had turned the open sign to closed and locked up for their lunch hour.

“So Mark, how are you doing?” Zane asked cautiously.

“I'm doing amazing, I'd say. I feel better than I've felt in years. It really helped, that month away.” Mark said.

“Good. I'm glad. It was rough for everyone.” Zane frowned.

“It killed me being away from Annie, especially with everything that happened but after talking to her and to the counselors at the place everyone agreed that it was the last place I needed to be while I was recovering.” Mark gave a half smile.

“They're right,” Ty said, “everything was such a pressure cooker.”

“Only thing that kept me sane was knowing that you, Zane, and Harrison were there watching over my girls.” Mark smiled, squeezing Annie's knee.

“That's what we're here for.” Zane grinned.

“I have to apologize to you two again, you know.” Mark sighed.

“It's not needed, but if you want to I wont stop you.” Zane said.

“I said some real shitty things to both of you, not even including what happened to Annie, I've beat myself up over it a lot in the last month. You two were some of the last people I'd ever want to hurt. Hell, Zane, you're my brother and Ty you're basically my brother now too and you've saved Annie and Sadie's lives at the risk of your own. Neither of you deserved what I said or how I acted and I'm truly sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” Zane smiled, standing with Ty to pull Mark into a group hug.

“Why don't the three of you,” Ty said, pointing to Zane, Mark, and Annie, “go to the store and get stuff to make for dinner tonight while I stay here with the shop and Princess Unicorn back here.” Ty smiled, pointing to Sadie.

“I heard that!” she yelled from behind them.

“A damn spitfire.” Ty laughed.

“Damn is a bad word!” Sadie yelled back.

“Sure you can take her?” Annie laughed.

“Reasonably sure.” Ty smiled, “If not I've got the cats to sick on her while I make my escape.”

 


	18. Chapter 18

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 18

 

“What do you feel like doing today?” Ty asked Sadie who was bouncing on his knee.

“Dunno.” Sadie sighed.

“You gotta give me some kind of idea!” Ty laughed.

“You live here, you tell me what there is to do!” Sadie protested.

Zane sat back at the counter and watched the two of them. Ty was a natural with kids and it was a beautiful thing to watch. He felt a sudden pang in his chest, it was the desire that was almost always there but hardly ever showed it's head except for moments like this, Ty would make an amazing father, it's something they'd talked about a few times before but had never really come to a decision on but seeing him with Sadie or Amelia always looked so natural and Zane could only imagine how much better if would feel if one day he looked over and saw their child on Ty's lap. It wasn't the time or place to broach such a serious subject so Zane shook the thought out of his head and walked over to the couch.

“I hear there's this pretty crazy new toy store downtown,” Zane smiled at Sadie, “what do you say we start there and buy you a whole bunch of stuff that your mom and dad will be mad at us about?”

“I like how that sounds!” Sadie yelled, jumping up from Ty's knee.

“Go run upstairs and put some comfortable shoes on and we'll head out then.” Zane laughed.

“Annie's going to kill you,” Ty sighed, “they have to fly back with all the stuff we get her!”

“They'll make it work. We hardly get to see her, I just want her to have a good time.” Zane said, circling his arms around Ty's waist.

“You're such a softie.” Ty smiled, leaning his head back in anticipation of Zane's kiss. He smiled when their lips met.

“People kissing is so gross.” Sadie called from the top of the stairs.

Zane could feel his cheeks flush as Ty laughed.

“Anyone ever told you not to insult the people who are buying you presents?” Ty laughed again.

Sadie bounded down the steps, not stopping as she grabbed both of them by the wrists and dragged them out the door to the car.

 

~*~

 

After two whirlwind hours of shopping Ty collapsed at the table of Chiapparelli's with six full bags of Sadie's purchases in his hands. Sadie bounced into the opposite side of the booth, still vibrating on pure energy, and Zane slid in next to him, putting his hand on his thigh for a brief moment of contact. Ty internally groaned when he saw Ryan walk over to take their order. It was completely irrational and plan stupid petty jealousy but Ty immediately turned Zane's face to his and pressed a kiss to his lips when Ryan was in eyesight. Ty could feel Zane smile at his obvious action and saw him roll his eyes as their lips parted.

“Subtle, Grady.” Zane whispered.

“Not trying to be.” Ty replied, playfully indignant.

Ryan, either oblivious to the action or ignoring it, walked up to the table and smiled.

“How is my favorite married couple this afternoon?” Ryan smiled.

Ty felt his eyes squint and resisted the urge to mutter 'subtle' under his breath. Instead he threw his arm around Zane's shoulder in a protective embrace.

“We're amazing, how are you, Ryan?” Ty asked in his best sugary sweet voice.

“Busy but having fun.” He smiled and turned to Sadie, “And who do we have here?”

“This is my niece, Sadie.” Zane introduced her, “Sadie, this is Ryan.”

“So you're that Ryan Uncle Ty was talking about when I said I wanted Italian food.” Sadie mused.

Ty could feel his stomach drop into a pit as Ryan laughed and Zane let out a groan. Ryan took their drink orders and walked away to give them a few more minutes to look over the menu.

“Sadie, what the hell?” Ty gasped as soon as Ryan was out of earshot.

“Hell is a bad word.” Sadie said.

“Just be thankful she didn't repeat your full statement.” Zane laughed.

“Of course Sadie picked the one place that has a waiter that wants to bone you.” Sadie parroted Ty's earlier words.

Ty's head fell towards the table, face beet red, and sweating out of nervousness.

“It would be a real shame if all these toys somehow managed to make their way back to the store.” Ty warned from his face down position on the table.

“Sadie, I will give you $20 if you don't repeat that ever again.” Zane sighed.

“$25.” Sadie responded flatly.

“Excuse me?” Ty's head shot up.

“$25 .” Sadie repeated, amused.

“Are we being extorted by a ten year old?” Zane gasped.

“Just give her the money, Zane.” Ty gritted.

“I'm not negotiating with a terrorist.” Zane spat.

Sadie looked backwards and waved at Ryan who was starting his return.

“Zane. Just do it. I'll pay you back.” Ty was frantic.

“Fine.” Zane pulled out his wallet and handed Sadie a [$](mailto:%24@0)20 bill and a $5 bill.

“Nice doing business with you.” she smiled.

“We will be talking about this later.” Zane warned, speaking to both Sadie and Ty.

 

~*~

 

“Your daughter is evil.” Zane sighed as Mark and Annie walked through the door of the bookstore.

“I could have told you that.” Mark laughed.

“What happened?” Annie sighed.

Zane relayed the entire story to Annie who was too amused by the whole situation to even be mad at Sadie.

“Do not ever say 'bone' in front of my daughter in that context again.” Annie pointed her finger at Ty.

“I'm the one you're mad at? Not your daughter who extorted us in public?” Ty gasped.

“She saw an opportunity and took it!” Mark laughed, “If you hadn't said it she wouldn't have been able to take your money!”

“This family is terrifying.” Ty sighed, sinking down into a beanbag on the floor.

“But you love us.” Annie teased.

“How was the conference?” Zane asked.

“So much fun.” Annie smiled, “I made a few new connections, signed up to try some experimental stuff, the practice is going to grow so much if it all works out.”

“At least one of us had a good day.” Ty frowned.

“You can't tell me you didn't have fun watching Sadie bounce around that toy store and throw everything she saw into the car.” Zane smiled.

“I guess it was kind of cute.” Ty grinned.

“So when is Sadie getting a cousin?” Annie teased and Ty felt his heart stop.

He wanted a kid, really, really, wanted one. It had been something that had really come to the forefront of his mind during this last trip to Texas and spending so much time with Sadie and Amelia. Ty just didn't know if it was in their cards. He knew Zane wanted one but neither of them had really had a wholly serious conversation about it. Plus with the fact that they worked for the CIA, even if only part time, it was still a potentially dangerous environment and not one totally hospitable for raising a child. Coupled with the fact that neither of them were getting younger, Ty was a few months away from turning 40 and Zane only a bit more than two from turning 50, it sometimes felt like it would never happen.

Ty caught Zane's eye and smiled, giving him a wink.

“We've talked about it,” Ty said, “but we need to have a really serious talk about it again sometime soon.” He was talking to Annie just as much as he was talking to Zane.

Zane smiled and nodded back at him, a silent promise that they would.

Before anyone else could respond they were cut off by the ringing of the bell above the front door, whoever had come in completely ignored the closed sign on the door.

“I'm sorry, we're closed.” Zane said, turning to meet the person who had walked through the door.

“I'm not here to buy anything.” A woman's voice that they had heard before called from around the corner.

Ty's eyes widened as he was who was standing in their store, Alice Abernathy. They had tried to get into contact with her a few times since returning from Texas but she proved almost impossible to nail down, but here she stood, in her tight red dress and zip up boots with her hair pulled back into her signature right ponytail, in the middle of their store.

Everyone was stunned into silence.

“Good. All of you are here.” She smiled, a small trace of dark amusement crossing her face, “I believe we have some things to talk about.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A much shorter chapter than normal, I know, but the story is slowly starting to wrap up and I don't want to pad it out with too much extra content that takes away from it. I'm humbled by all the great responses and love I've gotten so far and I'm already in the planning and outlining stages of the sequel which should take too much longer after I wrap this up in the next few chapters. I'm liking it even more from a basic story standpoint and I can't wait to share the evolution of my ~alternate universe~ series continuation soon!


	19. Chapter 19

 

 

 

 

Ending

Chapter 19

 

Mark sat at the opposite end of the table as a silent observer, he didn't know who this Alice Abernathy was but it was very clear that Annie, Zane, and Ty did. It was a few tense moments before someone spoke.

“How did you find us?” Zane asked.

“You're one of three bookstores in this city that isn't named Barnes & Nobel, it wasn't that hard.” Alice said flatly.

“It's nice to see you haven't lost your sunny disposition.” Ty rolled his eyes.

“You really don't like me do you, Mr. Grady?” Alice laughed.

“I can't say you're one of my favorite people.” Ty said.

“Mrs. Abernathy,” Annie asked, “why are you here?”

“Well, I heard these two were trying to get in touch with me and I'm in the city for business so I figured I would drop by to find out what was so urgent.” She pointed at Ty and Zane.

Mark saw Zane shift uncomfortably in his seat before he spoke.

“Honestly, I just wanted to find out who the hell you were. You show up at our ceremony out of nowhere and stay after hours arguing with my mother behind the house then you come to her funeral and try to make a damn scene.” Zane was getting flustered.

“Sweetheart, the only one who threatened a scene was your husband.” Alice said, flicking her head towards Ty.

Mark saw Ty go rigid and he wondered for a second if Ty was going to throw himself over the table at her. Something about this woman really got under his skin.

“Regardless, you've shown up out of nowhere and seem to really hate my mom yet she's donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to your charity over the life. None of it makes sense to me.” Zane said, puzzled.

“Being out of the FBI for so long has really dulled your investigational skills hasn't it?” Alice laughed.

“What are you talking about?” Ty spat.

“Oh my god.” Annie gasped, holding her hand to her mouth.

Mark turned his head to her and saw her body tense, her eyes wide with shock.

“Annie?” Mark asked.

“It's you. The woman from the letter. She's you.” Annie said with a tremor in her voice.

“What?” Zane said, shooting up from the table.

“Letter?” Alice asked.

“You've got to be kidding me.” Ty sighed.

“You were the woman mom had a relationship with.” Annie said.

“These two I thought might have figured it out eventually,” Alice pointed to Ty and Zane, “but you I did not expect. How did you know about it?”

“She left a letter in her will telling us about the woman she was in love with before she got married to dad...but she didn't say who it was.” Zane's voice was faltering too.

“I have no idea how I didn't catch this.” Ty laughed.

“She actually told you about it? I figured she would have taken it past her grave. I guess when your son marries a man it sparks a crisis of conscious.” Alice laughed.

“If you're going to sit here and insult my mother then you can get the fuck out.” Zane growled, perhaps more aggressively than he would have intended.

Alice huffed and Mark saw her shift in her seat.

“My apologies, I'm just a little taken aback. I thought I was the dirty little mistake Beverly had buried alive all those years ago, I never expected her to give up her darkest secret. I suppose in retrospect it makes sense why she invited me to your reception after not speaking to me for the last 40 odd years aside from her annual checks.” Alice sighed.

“This is blowing my mind.” Annie said, putting her head down on the table.

“What exactly did this letter say...if I might ask?” Alice said.

It was almost like Mark was looking at a different woman than the one who had come through the door. Her outwardly hostile shell was gone and it was replaced with the form of a woman who's heart had long been broken.

“I...uh...had it scanned and emailed to me. I think she would want you to read it.” Zane said, getting up from table, “Give me a minute, I'll go print out a copy.”

 

~*~

 

Ty watched Alice like a hawk as she read. He wasn't particularly fond of her but the change in her demeanor when she found out about this letter broke his heart...but only a little bit. Her entire presentation finally made sense, she was a woman who was broken by someone else and worked her hardest to pick up the pieces and glue herself back together. She might not be the nicest woman in the world but Ty had a newfound respect for her. He'd seen first hand just how much Beverly could cut someone with words and he could only imagine what she had said to her all those years ago, especially if she was trying her hardest to break her heart.

She studied every word furiously, by the time she was done reading it was as if she read the letter from start to finish three times.

“I did not expect this.” Alice admitted with a slump in her shoulders.

“Are you OK?” Annie asked.

“I don't know what I am.” Alice sighed.

“I take it you never knew her side of the story?” Zane asked.

“No,” Alice began, “I still remember that night like it happened yesterday. She told me she wanted to meet me in our secret spot the old abandoned drive in theater. It wasn't unusual for her to want to meet so last minute so I figured it was just a normal evening. When I got there I could tell she had been crying, I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her and she hit it away. She said she was done with me and was disgusted with herself that she'd fallen for my...temptation. The idea of me touching her ever again made her sick and want to claw her eyes out. She called me every name under the sun and said we were done if if I ever told anyone or tried to contact her again she would tell my parents and the police that I seduced her and let them do whatever they wanted with me...” Alice trailed off with tears in her eyes.

Ty's chest was tight and he could feel himself dangerously close to crying. He looked at Zane who's head was hung in shame, unable to make eye contact with Alice.

“I believed her words up until a few minutes ago. She ruined my life that night. I tried to kill myself the second she walked away but I couldn't bring myself to go through with it.” Alice said, her voice shaking.

“My god...” Annie sighed.

“I never knew that her parents found out. I never stopped to think about why she said it. About why a woman who I thought loved me so much would say those things.” Tears we falling from her face now.

Zane was frozen in place as he was confronted with her mothers words. Ty stood up and walked over to him, placing a kiss on the crown of his head before walking over to Alice and putting his hand on her shoulder.

“I'm just going to speak as a neutral third party here,” Ty said plainly “as someone who Beverly didn't like very much at first.”

Alice nodded her head and Zane finally looked up from the table, his eyes red with tears.

“When I first met Beverly she didn't like me very much and she almost had a heart attack when she found out about Zane and I. She said some pretty fucked up things to us both, broke her sons heart. But knowing what I do now, I can't hold any of that against her. She never meant what she said to me, Zane, or even you Alice. She was someone who had given up everything to make her family proud and it took a tremendous toll of her. She essentially sold her soul. It doesn't make what she did right but in some sense it's justifiable. She spent the last six months or so of her life slowly trying to make things right with Zane, and I could never thank her enough for what she did. I truly believe if that accident had never happened she would have made it right with you eventually. She knew that letter existed though, and she knew Zane and I well enough to know that was could figure out who it was if we really tried. She knew at some point you would find out the truth.” Ty sat back down next to Zane, slightly winded from his monologue.

“It's no secret my mom could be a world class bitch.” Annie laughed.

“It's a shame you never got to know the Beverly I did, she was a delight.” Alice smiled.

“Zane?” Ty asked, “You OK baby?”

“I'm so sorry, Alice.” Zane rasped, “What my mother did was reprehensible, regardless of the reasoning behind it. You didn't deserve it.”

“Maybe not, but there's no sense in sitting around and talking about the woman like she's here.” Alice laughed, “It wont do anything but make all of us upset. Thank you though...for this letter...I can finally close this chapter in my life. Do you mind if I keep this?”

“Not at all, it's yours.” Zane smiled.

“We're all going to dinner...if you'd like to come with us.” Annie smiled.

“Thank you but I'm afraid I have to decline the offer, I have an early flight and I'd rather be alone with my thoughts.” Alice gave a half smile.

“Understandable.” Ty said.

“Next time the two of you young men are in Texas give me a call and I'll make it up to you.” She pulled out a card with a phone number on it, “This is my personal cell, if you ever need anything you give me a call.” She handed one to Annie and made her the same promise as well.

“Our door is always open if you're ever back here.” Zane smiled and shook her hand.

“I appreciate it.” Alice said, turning and walking out the door.

Ty waited to speak until he heard the ring of the bell above the door.

“Woah.” Ty sighed.

 

~*~

 

A few hours later Zane, Ty, Annie, and Mark sat across from each other in Ty and Zane's favorite steakhouse. It was their attempt at a double date do over after the disastrous last one. Zane had convinced Perrimore and his wife to babysit Sadie when the four of them had a romantic night out.

“What can I get everyone to drink?” The waitress asked.

“Ice tea.” Zane said.

“Coke.” Ty said.

“Another ice tea.” Annie smiled.

“One more ice tea for me.” Mark laughed and the waitress wrote down all their drink orders.

“Crisis number one averted.” Mark smiled.

The entire table gave out a slightly uncomfortable chuckle before looking at the menu.

Zane already knew what Ty would want and Ty already knew what Zane would want. Ordering for each other at some of their favorite places amused them for some reason, especially when they were with other people.

The waitress came back to the table with their drinks and turned to Ty and Zane after taking

Annie and Marks orders.

“He will have the wagyu steak cooked medium rare with the side of smashed potatoes and and glazed carrots.” Zane smiled, kissing Ty on the temple.

“And this one where will have the blackened mahi with roasted asparagus.” Ty grinned, returning a kiss on the cheek.

The waitress laughed and wrote down their orders before leaving to put them in.

“Sometimes you two give me a toothache.” Mark laughed.

“What can I say,” Ty grinned, “we're just so damn sweet.”

Zane laughed as Ty pulled his head towards him to give him another kiss, this time on this lips, and slightly more passionate than a normal public display of affection. Zane let out an audible sigh and Ty laughed again.

“What is it, lone star?” Ty asked.

“I just never get tired of kissing you.” Zane grinned.

“You guys are going to make me throw up before we eat.” Annie laughed.

“Oh stop it sweetie,” Mark teased, “if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!” he clapped before turning Annie to face him and kissing her with as much passion as Ty did to Zane.

“These Garrett's are hard to lock down sometimes.” Mark winked at Ty.

“You're telling me.” Ty laughed and held up his glass to Marks in a toast.

“I hate both of you.” Annie rolled her eyes.

“What time is your flight tomorrow?” Zane asked.

“12:30,” Annie smiled, “I know you're anxious to get your house back.”

“I don't know,” Ty laughed, “I'm going to miss the sound of Sadie's feet flying all over the hardwood and the cats screaming as she chases them.”

“We have to get a cat when we get home now.” Mark laughed.

“Not you too!” Zane groaned.

“We promised Sadie if she behaved tonight we'd get a cat when we got back home.” Mark rolled his eyes.

“World class parenting done right.” Annie laughed.

“So she's come out of this trip with $300 worth of toys, $25 of Zane's own money, and a cat? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.” Ty laughed.

“Gonna be hell when she's a teenager.” Zane shook his head.

“Don't I know it.” Annie sighed.

They were interrupted by their food arriving to the table.

“Oh my god, this is so good.” Annie moaned, taking another bite of her steak.

Zane looked across the table at his sister and her husband, studying them. He could tell how much closer they'd become and how much Marks trip away helped him deal with his issues. It made Zane's heart soar and gave him one less thing to worry about constantly. He was broken from his daze by Ty's hand on his thigh.

“Whatca thinkin' about, handsome?” Ty whispered.

“Just how lucky I am to have all of you at this table with me.” Zane smiled, whispering back to Ty.

The rest of the meal continued in the same fashion, everyone teasing each other and Zane whispering to

Ty about how much he loved him. Just as they were ready to leave they were interrupted by a woman in a white chefs coat carrying two molten chocolate cakes.

“Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't order dessert” Annie smiled.

“I know,” the woman smiled back, “these two are here all the time and they always end up getting this so we figured we'd give you two on the house tonight since you're having such a good time and annoying everyone with how in love you are. Compliments of the chef.” She laughed, pointing to herself.

“You always do too much for us, Angie.” Zane laughed.

“Just glad I don't ever have to see Ty eating by himself in here anymore. It was depressing.” She winked at Ty before walking away.

“People are never this nice to us in Texas.” Mark laughed.

“You just don't know the right people!” Ty said, pointing at him with his fork before diving into the cake, scooping up a piece and sticking it in Zane's mouth.

“Oh my god, you're feeding each other now?” Annie groaned.

“Live a little.” Zane laughed, taking a piece of cake with his fork and feeding it to Ty.

 

~*~

 

Ty opened his eyes to the feeling of Zane pressing against his back, fully hard, and still asleep. He lifted his head slightly off the bed to make sure the door was still closed before turning over to wake him with a kiss. Zane responded immediately, opening his mouth and allowing Ty's tongue to slide into it as his hands trailed over Ty's body and reached the waistband of the briefs he had slept in. Ty was already hard before Zane's hand even got to him, letting put a sigh when he felt his husbands hand make contact. He bit Zane's lip as he began to speed his hand up, going from a slow caressing motion to a faster, more kinetic feeling. Ty gasped as he slide his own hand down Zane's pajamas and took a hold of his throbbing cock, he could already feel his fingers wet with precum and drew his hand out of Zane's pants to rub his slick fingers on Zane's bottom lip before leaning in to lick the taste off of it.

“Fuck, Ty.” Zane moaned quietly.

“Already close, baby.” Ty sighed, Zane's hand working furiously on him was more than enough attention to get him off, especially after barely having touched the day before because of Sadie's presence.

“Good, I want to feel you cum against my body.” Zane commanded, working his hand up and down Ty's cock even faster.

“Kiss me.” Ty groaned.

Zane's mouth covered Ty's right as he reached his orgasm, Zane's mouth muffling the panting shouts of pleasure as he felt his cum his Zane's abs. He was huffing, out of breath, and weak but determined to make Zane cum with just as much force.

He ran his hand through his own cum on Zane's body and used it as lube for his hand on Zane's cock. Zane's breath was growing more and more labored as he got closer to his own release. My dipped his head into the crook of Ty's neck to muffle his cries as he came between the both of them, coating Ty's abs in the same sticky substance as his own.

Ty pulled Zane in close to him for a kiss, letting his hand rest gently on his back as he moved his fingers in absentminded circles.

“All these years and you can still drive me wild with just a handjob.” Ty sighed.

“I was dreaming about fucking you when you woke me up.” Zane laughed.

“If only we had the time or the ability to stay quiet for that.” Ty smiled.

“After we get back from the airport.” Zane winked.

Just as they were settling back into each others arms and drifting off to sleep, still sticky, a furious banging came from the door.

“Uncle Zane! Wake up! We're hungry and your door is locked! Daddy sent me to wake you up!” Sadie screamed.

“I'm going to kill Mark.” Ty groaned.

“Not if I beat you to it.” Zane huffed, kissing Ty on the forehead and walking to the bathroom to clean himself off before going downstairs to make breakfast.

 

~*~

 

“Call me when you land.” Zane hugged Annie goodbye as Ty shook marks hand before they traded places.

“I will.” Annie smiled.

“And you be a good girl on the plane.” Zane warned Sadie.

“I willllllllllll.” Sadie sighed before bouncing into Ty's arms.

Zane rolled his eyes and figured it was time to accept the fact that Sadie liked Ty more than him most of the time.

A voice boomed over the speaker, announcing the boarding of Annie, Mark, and Sadie's flight.

“That's us.” Mark smiled with a wave goodbye.

Zane watched as Sadie bounded off in front of her parents, Annie desperately trying to keep her in check with her one good arm and Mark doubling over in laughter trying to keep up with both of them while carrying all the luggage.

Ty turned to Zane and looked him in the face with a smile.

“This reminds me of Chicago for some reason.” Ty grinned.

“Oh?” Zane asked.

“Dunno why, just does.” Ty shrugged, leaning up to give Zane a peck on the lips as other boarding calls were announced over the intercom.

“Don't you sometimes wish you could just fly away?” Zane asked.

“You unhappy here?” Ty frowned.

“Not at all, doll.” Zane smiled, “Just a feeling I get sometimes in an airport, like how fun it would just be to walk to the nearest counter and book a flight to somewhere I've never been.”

“Lets do it then.” Ty smiled.

“What?” Zane laughed.

“Lets go to the nearest counter, find a flight to somewhere nearby, and make a day out of it.” Ty shrugged.

“You can't be serious.”

“It was your idea! The store is closed for the day, it's not like we'll be gone for a week or something. C'mon!” Ty said, pulling Zane to the nearest counter.

“Fine.” Zane said, “Right there, one hour flight to Boston, $120, leaves in 45 minutes.”

“Let's have ourselves a tea party then!” Ty laughed, sliding his credit card over the counter to pay for two tickets.

“And we can be back before midnight.” Zane laughed.

“What do we do with 10 hours in Boston?” Ty asked.

“Dunno, doll. We'll find out when we get there.” Zane kissed him on the head.

A little over half an hour later they were sitting on a plane, hand in hand, and flying off towards their impromptu day trip.

“What if we don't want to come back?” Zane asked.

“Cut and run from real life?” Ty laughed.

Zane nodded his head.

“Don't think The Company would like it too much, but we'd deal, just send someone to get the cats and then go from there. As long as we're together.” Ty smiled.

“As long as we're together.” Zane repeated.

Zane shifted down in his seat some to become level with Ty's shoulder and leaned over to lay his head on it. He hummed as her felt Ty's arm circle around him and pull him in even closer. He closed his eyes and felt himself drift off into a small nap with a smile on his face. He was right, no matter where they went, if they had each other then they would always find a way to survive.

 


	20. Chapter 20

 

 

 

 

 

Epilogue

Three Months Later

 

Ty sat on the floor of the guest house looking out of the windowed wall into the expanse of land in front of him and still couldn't process what was happening.

“Having fun down there, birthday boy?” Zane asked from behind him.

“Loads.” Ty said, “Help me up?” He held out his arm for Zane to take.

“Of course.” Zane grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him up from his position on the ground and wrapped him into a hug.

“How's 40 feel?” Zane smiled.

“A little sticky but not altogether unpleasant.” Ty joked.

“Nice to see old age hasn't dulled your sense of humor.” Zane said, flicking him on the nose.

“Where's everyone else?” Ty asked.

“Your parents, Deuce, and Livi are down at the main house getting ready for the event of the hour.” Zane ribbed him.

“How much time do we have?” Ty questioned.

“About 45 minutes, give or take the time to drive down.” Zane said.

“We could get a lot done in 45 minutes.” Ty winked.

“Oh?” Zane smiled.

“Mhm.” Ty grinned.

“What do you want to do for your birthday?” Zane laughed.

“I want to fuck you against this giant window and make you walk around for the rest of the day with my cum inside you.” Ty said with a wicked smile.

“Hardcore, Grady.” Zane laughed.

“Turn around, Garrett.” Ty commanded, a bottle of lube somehow in his hand already.

Zane did as he was told and unbuttoned his pants to pull them down to his ankles as he felt Ty press his fingers against his hole. He let out a sharp gasp as he felt Ty's middle finger slip inside him and start to push deeper. He was panting against the glass, it fogging under his hot breath as Ty slipped yet another finger inside of him, widening him just enough so it wasn't unbearable for his ass when Ty was inside him.

Zane began to pump his hand up and down his on stiff cock as he felt Ty enter him. He gave out a shirt cry as Ty passed through the tight ring of muscles and settled himself deep inside him before moving his hips backwards and pulling out.

“Please Ty.” Zane begged.

Ty leaned forward and kissed him on the nape of his neck before slamming his cock deep inside Zane's ass.

Zane's screaming became louder and louder as Ty pounded into him, pushing his face against the cold glass. He could feel himself getting closer the longer Ty fucked him and the final time Ty pulled his cock completely out before slamming back into him sent him over the edge and he began to feel himself explode all over the window in front of him. Zane's body clamping down around Ty's cock had the desired effect as the pressure proved too much for Ty and he began to cum inside Zane, his body jerking as jet after jet released from him.

He was a sweaty mess as he pulled out from Zane and fell to the floor, Zane following quickly after him and curling his half clothed both against him.

“That was fun.” Ty smiled.

“It was.” Zane sighed. “As much as I'd love to lay here, we've got a date we're gonna miss if we wait any longer.” Zane said, pulling himself of from the floor and re-buttoning his pants around his waist.”

“Suppose you're right.” Ty groaned. “You're driving.” He said, throwing Zane the keys as he pulled up his pants.

 

~*~

 

“Happy birthday, Beaumont.” Mara said, pulling Ty into a ferocious hug.

He returned the hug to his mother before turning to shake his fathers hand and to hug Deuce and Livi.

“Big stuff happening today, huh?” Earl asked.

“Yes sir.” Ty smiled, pulling Zane in close to him.

“Should be starting any minute now.” Zane said, giving Mara a quick hug.

As if it was planned Ty heard the microphone crackle to life just as Zane finished speaking. He looked up as the crowd gathered around the main area of the ranch looked up. There had to be over 100 people here, and the only one's Ty knew were his family, both sides of it. The rest didn't matter anyway, the only one's he cared about were the Grady's and the Garrett's. The crowd applauded as Harrison walked on the stage.

“Good evening.” He spoke into the mic. “I'd like to thank you all for coming out here tonight. This is something I've been looking forward to for the last few months.”

The crowd was still silent aside from a few murmurs and Ty felt a jolt of nerves run through him. Zane, as if he knew exactly what Ty was thinking, gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

“Love you.” Zane whispered.

“It's been a few months now since my wife passed,” Harrison started, “I won't lie and say it's been easy because it hasn't but I've had to carry on. It's what she would have wanted. And I know she wanted what we're all here for today because it was the last thing she asked of us in her will. Before I go any further I'd like to invite my son-in-law, Ty Grady, to stand up here with me.”

Ty felt himself flush under all the attention and froze for a brief second, a slight shove from Zane and a pat on the ass snapped him out of his haze and sent him towards the stage.

“Sir.” Ty smiled as he crossed the stage and shook Harrison's hand.

“When I met Ty a few years ago I instantly knew I loved him.” Harrison smiled, “And when I found out that he loved my son and my son loved him, well I couldn't have been happier. Ty has become an integral part of this family and I can truly say that if he wasn't a part of it I probably would not be standing here today. Which is why I am beyond proud to unveil the new name for the ranch.” Harrison stepped away from the mic and walked over to the side of the stage to a giant white sheet that covered the freshly planted sign. He gave the covering a quick pull and it fell to the ground revealing something that made Ty begin to tear up.

“Welcome to the Carter, Garret, Grady Ranch.” Harrison announced as the crowd erupted into applause.

Ty looked into the audience and spotted Zane, his arms around Mara and Earl, with tears streaming down his face.

“Now, I'd like to invite Ty here to the mic to say a few words if he'd like.” Harrison said, stepping aside.

Ty briefly panicked as he hadn't prepared anything to say, but another look into the crowd at Zane and his parents gave him the exact words he needed.

“Hi,” He spoke into the mic, “I honestly could not think of a better 40th birthday present than this if I tried. It is such an incredible honor that not only Harrison wanted this, but Beverly herself before she passed. I will never be able to say thank you enough for this. When I met Zane seven years ago I never would have imagined myself standing here, in front of my family and his...our family. The feeling I'm feeling at this exact moment is indescribable. I'm filled with so much love and admiration for all the people in my life and for everything that has happened to lead me here. Ma, dad, thank you so much for raising me exactly how you did and loving and supporting me in everything I do. Deuce, thanks for being the best brother and therapist a guy could have. And Zane, thank you for being my anchor. Thank you for being the person I get to spend the rest of my life with, the person I get to kiss goodnight and good morning. The person I get to fight with, spend time with, and love unconditionally. I'm so proud to be a part of your family and I'm so proud that you're a part of mine. Thank you for letting me be your compass. I love you, baby.”

Ty stepped away from the mic and the crowd roared with applause, he could see people in the audience crying but he didn't care about them, the only thing he cared about was Zane and feeling their lips pressed together. He left the stage and cut his way through the crowd to where he was standing.

“Welcome to the C, G, and G.” Zane smiled as Ty pulled him close.

Ty didn't respond with words, he pulled his face down to his and pressed their lips together, the entire world coming to a pause around them. He'd never get over moments like this, quiet and intimate in a sea full of people. Their lips pulled apart and they gazed into each others eyes for long minutes.

“I love you, Ty.” Zane smiled.

“I love you too, Zane.” Ty said, kissing him once more before releasing.

Mara walked over to them and put her hands on both of their shoulders.

“Now that you've got yourself a nice fancy ranch you better not stop coming by. I expect you for Christmas.” She warned.

“I wouldn't miss it for the world.” Zane smiled and hugged her.

“Don't worry, Ma. We'll be there. I promise.” Ty hugged his mother before she walked away.

“So,” Zane started, “any other plans for your birthday?”

“Actually, I was thinking of making a trip back out to that tree house with a bottle of lube this time.” Ty whispered.

“Oh really?” Zane raised an eyebrow.

“Mhm. It's pretty nice and I am part owner now after all.” Ty joked.

“Alright then,” Zane smiled, “lead the way.”

“No,” Ty said, lacing their fingers together and kissing him on the hand, “we go together.”

Ty smiled bigger than he had in a long time when he looked at Zane as they walked. He was so fucking beautiful.

Ty smiled and pulled Zane even closer to him.

“I fucking love my life.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, we've reached the end of the story. It's be an incredible experience writing this and I'm so happy at the response it's gotten. When I first started out I wanted to do a traditional Ty and Zane mystery-romance but my original plan (Alice killing Beverly out of grief for what happened when they were younger) never felt right and I'm so happy I listened to my heart and just stuck more to a story that was about love and family.
> 
> I can't wait to share the next part of this series with you all sometime soon, I think you're really going to love it.


End file.
